AEW Dynamite episode number 43 came to us this week from Daily’s Place, ready to continue its roll from last week’s hot outing. There was no Excalibur on commentary this week, as he was replaced by Taz. I didn’t hear if they explained the change, but it’s likely stemming from comments that were uncovered this week. Fans dug up a promo that Excalibur did in PWG around 2002, in which he used the N-Word (in character). I’m not sure how long they’ll keep him away from the booth, but Taz is a much better fit with Tony and JR. It was a wonderful change of pace from Excalibur’s smarky and repetitive commentary, in my opinion.
Inner Circle vs. Jurassic Express/Best Friends/Orange Cassidy
We kick off tonight’s proceedings with a wild 10 man tag team fracus. In spite of the fact that this wasn’t tornado rules, nobody really followed tag team guidelines here. It started with all 10 men in the ring, doing a million moves and giving the spots no time to register. It did slow down for the middle portion, as Inner Circle controlled the pace by beating down Trent for a bit. It ended as it began, with a bunch of slow-moving dives. Between the lack of rules, the lack of selling, and the obvious corporation, this match felt like a total dud to me. Matt Hardy (as himself, he says he’ll no longer do the Broken character) costs Guevara the match, who gets pinned by Luchasaurus. Aside from Luchasaurus/Hager building some nice “big man” spots, this was much ado about nothing.
We get a brief Jon Moxley promo backstage. He’s such a great soundbyte guy because he’s frantic, intense, and he speaks with purpose. He says he’s gonna bully Cage and Starks tonight since they bullied Darby Allin last week. Good stuff.
Cody vs. Warhorse
This TNT Championship match was announced at the end of last week, as indy star Warhorse has been asking Cody for this for a while. Jake “Warhorse” Parnell started several years ago as a generic wrestler, before dawning facepaint about two years ago to become a metal-loving, energetic, smaller Ultimate Warrior standout. He’s worked at Limitless Wrestling and GCW, among other places. This was a pretty solid match. They’re telling the story of Cody getting more heelish and aggressive week to week. His facials, and even Jim Ross on commentary, were getting over the slight changes in Cody lately. Warhorse got a little gassed toward the end, but he hit some swift counters and seemed prepared (several times) for Cody’s figure four. Warhorse used his limited offense well and sold his leg decently. This match was paced well and didn’t overstay its welcome. Cody wins with the figure four.
After the match, Silver and Reynolds from Dark Orde come out to attack Cody (for some reason). Warhorse pushes Cody away and tries to help him, but gets beat down. It looks like the Order is going to attack Arn Anderson, until Matt Cardona (the former Zack Ryder) comes out and fends them off. Cardona’s 90 day no-compete clause from his recent WWE release just came up, and it seems he’s signed with AEW. He hit some nice offense here and looks absolutely JACKED in killer shape. Cardona is a good worker who knows how to connect to crowds, and he has potential to make a difference here. Between Warhorse and Cardona, there are some fun potential threads to be explored here.
The Inner Circle is back out for an angry promo. Jericho is tired of the way that they’ve been treated for weeks now, and he’s incensed. Sammy Guevara talks about Matt Hardy, and Jericho says he’ll face Orange Cassidy again in two weeks. What I didn’t like was all the comedy here. In between the anger and yelling, Jericho/Sammy/Santana/Ortiz did little bits about Spanish and Jericho’s smelly jacket. It was an inconsistent tone for a group who’s supposed to be taking back their power.
FTR are signing their AEW contacts in a vignette. Why it took them two months to sign contracts on-air, I’ll never know. FTR says they need a smart business guy to check their paperwork, and in comes Arn Anderson. This is another obvious thread that’s leading to the formation of the new Four Horsemen. FTR says they are the hosts of Tag Team Appreciation night in two weeks. Adam Page comes in with a whiskey toast to his new friends, FTR. This segment accomplished a lot and incorporated multiple angles into a small piece. Very nice work by the bookers here.
Adam Page/Kenny Omega vs. Evil Uno/Stu Grayson
This Tag Team Title match was honestly one of the best things on the show, as a match itself. Dark Order’s duo had their best work in AEW here, and the four were well-timed. Both sides gelled and used a lot of fun double teams. Grayson is fluid and really has unlimited potential in the future. I liked how they kept cutting to other teams in the crowd, to make this match feel more important. Colt Cabana did a nice job on guest commentary, showing that he wasn’t officially part of Dark Order yet, but articulating why he liked hanging around them. Anna Jay is back, and seemingly has joined the group too. Page and Omega win a very fun match with their Buckshot/V-Trigger combo. After the match, Brodie gets the mic and punks out his losing members. He tells Page and Omega that his guys are everywhere. The Young Bucks jump in to help their Elite brothers, and masked creepers jump the rails to attack the four. FTR comes out with a styrofoam cooler (again), and knocks down Brodie. The six men fend off all the creepers. I really didn’t like the aftermath here. So Brodie gets punked by a repetitive piece of styrofoam. Dark Order has an infinite amount of members in the crowd, but they’re all jobbers, and they didn’t come out earlier to help their team win the titles. And they get quickly dispatched by three teams who don’t like each other. The logic here is missing, and it’s really hurting Brodie Lee’s stock.
We get a brief Diamante package, talking about how she’s worked for a long time and is a diamond. It was generic, but it held passion and it served the purpose of introducing a new audience to her.
Diamante vs. Hikaru Shida
I was really looking forward to this contest, and sadly I was more let down than I was last week. Diamante showed in the Ladies Night Out series (as well as in Impact Wrestling) how valuable she can be. But she’s done FAR from her best work here in AEW. There were so many botches and choppy transitions in this one. At times they blatantly had to turn each other around or clinch so they could get their positioning back and talk. Diamante is capable of so much more, but that’s two very bad showings in a row on Dynamite. Shida gets a painful win after the running knee.
We see Nyla Rose backstage with Vickie Guerrero, and Rose is picking her color for the Women’s Cup Tournament. The women are randomly paired up based on what color they drew. Nyla gets purple, and she’s told that someone else already drew purple. Ariane (the former Cameron of the Funkadactyls) shows up to say “girl, hi”. I hope this is only a one time fit. Ariane is best known for being on Tough Enough, where she told Steve Austin that her favorite match ever was Alicia Fox vs. Melina. She also once tried to pin someone while they were on their stomach. Lord help us.
MJF comes out for a “state of wrestling promo, complete with presidential signs, red carpet, and burberry podium. He talks eloquently about how AEW was meant to bring wrestling back, not rely on flip-floppy wrestlers who people think are good because of their spots. He calls out cosplay wrestlers, and says Moxley is only valued because he was a “Titan” (meaning WWE’s Titan Tower) and says he cosplays as Stone Cold. He calls out #NotMyChampion Moxley for a title match at All Out. This promo is well spoken, a semi-shoot, and sets up for a money feud between Moxley and MJF.
Jon Moxley/Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage/Ricky Starks
Taz gets the mic beforehand, and hypes up his two men. He talks about Cage’s muscles, then lets Starks do a promo. Starks does a nice job, getting over his hate for Darby and his playboy character. The match is tornado style, so the hardcore brawling makes sense here. Darby flies and bumps like a madman here, and Cage showcases his power a lot in this match. Darby jumps on Starks with a skateboard with thumbtacks for the win, and Starks’ back is bleeding badly. Good main event, and the show closes with a Moxley/Darby stare-down.
Overall, this show was a mixed bag. Some stuff was truly great (MJF promo, tag title match), others were good (TNT Title, main event), and others lacked all sense of logic and character protection (10 man tag, Dark Order stuff). It was a good show, but nowhere near as good as last week. AEW has jumped the shark on large multi-man tag matches, but they also can do chaos very well (when there’s story motivating the chaos). With All Out approaching, the stories should become tighter in the next few weeks.
