Episode 42 of AEW Dynamite felt like a crucial one. Although they got back to beating NXT in the ratings war after a 3 week defeat, the show felt like one of the weaker ones in its brief history. I don’t know if they bumped up the audio this week or if the crowd was just louder than normal, but it felt like the noise was sweetened this week. Tony Schiavone was back on commentary. We opened with Cody in the ring, getting ready for his TNT open challenge. We hear a voice from the back, as Eddie Kingston comes out with a mic. Kingston is an 18 year veteran from places like CZW, Chikara, IWA Mid-South, ROH, Impact Wrestling, and most recently NWA. Kingston says Cody has no idea what struggling and fighting is like, as he had a tough upbringing and fought for everything. He asked to make it a no DQ match, and it was accepted. Kingston is a great fit for this open challenge, and this promo was a nice intro to him for people that aren’t familiar.
Cody vs. Eddie Kingston
Right away, this felt like a fight. Everything was hard hitting, and Kingston used old school moves like eye gouging and face pulling to stay in control. His strikes hit very hard, and he has a grittiness to him that is sorely missed in modern day wrestling. Cody answered back with his speed here, and both men sold well. Kingston looked to have tweaked his knee, and Cody went to it several times to turn the tide. Kingston suplexed Cody right onto a barrage of thumbtacks. Cody eventually gets the tapout win with the figure four, in spite of Kingston’s great showing. I’m not sure what Kingston’s contractual obligations are to the NWA, but if he’s available, AEW could really use someone as real as him. He’d be a great fit in Taz’ new stable. Great opener.
Moxley cuts a promo backstage and says that Taz did the right thing by saving Cage last week, and next time, he’ll snap Cage’s arm. Moxley (much like Kingston) oozes aggression and grit, and this was a nice soundbyte.
MJF comes out and cuts a promo as he’s set to face Griff Garrison. Garrison mentions his name and says that MJF lost in a tag team match, before MJF attacks him.
MJF vs. Griff Garrison
Griff Garrison is an impressive looking collegiate athlete who’s been doing solid work in ROH’s tag team division lately. He’s lost a few times on AEW Dark as well. MJF mostly batters him and drags him around like a true heel, before bringing the mic back into the ring and talking during the match. He makes Garrison say he’s undefeated before beating him with the Heat Seeker piledriver. MJF is magnetizing to watch in his cocky, old school approach to laying out matches. He needs to be talking EVERY week.
We see Tony Schiavone talking to “Reba” (Rebel) before being called back by Britt Baker. They go and tend to Baker, who’s still in a wheelchair and just had surgery on a broken nose. She brings back her conspiracy theories and board, and eludes to the fact that she’ll be back at All Out. What MJF is to the male division in AEW, Britt Baker is to the women’s division.
Taz is out next with Brian Cage. Taz says Cage is angry about him throwing the towel in last week against Moxley, but he did the right thing to save Cage’s long term health. Darby Allin comes out to square off with Cage, but Ricky Starks attacks him from behind. Last night on AEW Dark, Starks also came out to help Cage attack Darby. Darby gets tossed around hard before Moxley comes out to run the heels off with a barbed wire bat. I really liked this segment all around. Starks deserves a bigger role, and he pairs nicely with Taz here as Taz expands his client base. I also like the dynamic between Moxley and Darby, as devil-may-care reckless faces.
We get a commercial for a women’s tag team cup this summer. I really hope we don’t get Women’s Tag Team Titles. AEW hasn’t done a good job with their singles women’s division to this point, and less is more when it comes to championships.
Jericho is backstage with the Inner Circle and Alex Marvez. Jericho is still wearing the nasty, orange stained jacket from last week, for some reason. He talks about Cassidy and how he’s going to get revenge on Jurassic Express for mocking him. Jericho was solid here, but Marvez isn’t good in this interview role. They have DDP’s daughter and Dasha Gonzales under contract, so they are much better fits in terms of acting, aesthetic, and charisma.
Young Bucks vs. The Butcher and The Blade
Most people would likely assume I’d hate this match, but quite honestly I loved it. It starts backstage as Butcher and Blade are cutting meat (in reference to their seldom-used characters). The strange part was when B&B put down their knives and weapons and slowly removed their butcher attire as the Bucks stood and watched. Lack of logic there aside, this thing was a fast-paced and wild brawl. What I loved about it was that it was outside the ring in a fresh area, and the pace was very frenetic. Sure, the spots were clearly choreographed here, but at least it was done in a fun and creative setting. After some wild spots in the Jaguars stadium concourse, they came out to the arena. The Bucks got the win stereo dives off of the platform stage through tables. Once in a while, stuff like this breaks up the pacing nicely.
We get a promo with Jake Roberts narrating as Lance Archer runs in the locker room and bounces jobbers all over the place. He tossed one up in the air through cardboard ceiling tile, and then drug him by his pants into a garbage can. As much as I’ve hated the repetitive weekly Archer-jobber spots, this one was viciously hilarious. He tries to speak after, but he sounds stupid as he strains to fake a scary voice. Leave the talking to Jake, but it’s good to be building Archer as a monster again.
Diamonte vs. Ivelisse
AEW realizes that a lot of their women’s roster can’t travel (due to the pandemic) and several are injured, so they smartly opened the door up here to some top free agents. Diamonte is most known for her time with LAX in Impact Wrestling, and Ivelisse is a former WWE Tough Enough competitor who shined on the now-defunct Lucha Underground. I loved the idea of this, but my personal hype fell way short of the execution. These two have wrestled before, but this really didn’t click. They tried some quicker spots, but misfired on armdrags and dropkicks. It was really choppy, so they tried to make up for it by exchanging really hard strikes. The strikes looked tight when they landed, but this wasn’t the exhibition I’d hoped for. Diamonte wins with a small package.
Five vs. Adam Page
Five is Alan Angels from the Dark Order, and it’s good to get him back on Dynamite. These two turned a thrown together match into a pretty solid one. Angels is underrated in the ring, and Page was using some great big boot strikes to his advantage. They split the time on offense just right here, as Page wins with the powerbomb. Dark Order is out on the stage, and Brodie Lee and Colt Cabana join them. Brodie gets the mic and says Page has no friends to help him if he gets attacked. He offers Page a protected spot in the Dark Order, but Page refuses. Brodie has Dark Order attack Page, but FTR runs out with a beer cooler for the save. Kenny Omega comes out too, but he’s very late. I didn’t like how long this setup took, or how weak the Dark Order is made to look here. But that aside, they are telling the story of a budding friendship with Page-FTR and the rift between the champions.
Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus vs. Chris Jericho/Jake Hager
This main event was another solid match in a night of varied and effective wrestling. Jericho does a nice job bumping for Jungle Boy here, and Hager uses good counter-wrestling to work over Luchasaurus’ ankle. Jungle Boy gets isolated for a big chunk of the match, before finally giving the big “hot tag”. I really hate Luchasaurus’ offense. He doesn’t do any “big man work” at all, his kicks look very weak, and he slaps his leg with every move. Serpentico (an AEW Dark jobber) hits Luchasaurus from behind and gives the Inner Circle the win. Serpentico gets in the ring to unmask, and it’s the returning Sammy Guevara. Much like Darby Allin last week, it’s a huge positive to get Guevara back on this show. The Inner Circle continues their beatdown until Cassidy and Best Friends come out to run them off. With a 5-on-3 advantage and one of the 3 being Cassidy, the Inner Circle shouldn’t have run from them.
Overall, they followed up a pretty weak show last week, with a VERY good effort this week. They did a ton of good promo work, used their backstage settings effectively, and had a variance of different types of high quality matches. I hope the roll continues for AEW here.
