Episode 45 of AEW Dynamite was a live edition from Daily’s Place, and once again, we had Taz sitting in the Excalibur seat. Taz adds some insight, energy, and comedic self-awareness to the show that they normally don’t have. With AEW coming off of their highest rating since the pandemic (over 900,000), it was Tag Team Appreciation Night. Let’s unpack the action.
Young Bucks vs. The Dark Order
It’s fitting to open the show tonight with a tag match, and three Dark Order members jump the Bucks from behind and assault them before the match starts. Uno and Grayson have been very solid in the ring lately, but this one followed more of the Bucks spotty formula. Every time the Order would get a set of heat in their corner, the Bucks would come back with a flurry of flips, and the match would reset. It never got into any sort of flow, because it was organized poorly with multiple sets of heat/comebacks. The Dark Order throw Matt Jackson backstage and block him from returning up the entrance way, but Nick gets a roll-up win despite two-on-one odds. It wasn’t very good as a match, but even worse for the awful booking of the Dark Order. They get five-on-two odds, an attack before the match, and an ending advantage…but still lose. I hated the finish here.
MJF is walking toward the ring here, and he does more to get his cocky heel persona over here in 30 seconds without words, than most wrestlers do with a full promo.
Throughout the night, current AEW teams pay homage to their all time favorite teams. Kenny Omega puts the Bucks over, fawning over how they “changed wrestling”. Private Party pick the Hardy’s, in a nice piece of continuity to their alliance with Matt Hardy. Butcher and Blade put over the Road Warriors.
MJF comes out for another presidential promo. He says he’ll be there every week for the people, and that he never lies. He then gets on the ground, saying him laying down may make Jon Moxley more comfortable to come to work. Everything this man touches turns to gold. He manages to be topical and pop culture relevant, while still remaining a relic of classic Mid-South heels of the past. Mox’s music hits, and he comes out from the normal entrance to surprise MJF. He hits a Paradigm Shift, and gets a mic. Moxley says MJF has way more to pay for nearly costing him the title last week. This got MJF over as a slimy talker, and Moxley over as an ass-kicker with a vendetta. Great segment.
Matt Hardy gets a backstage promo, saying that he isn’t cleared to wrestle again until the next Dynamite (on August 22nd, due to the NBA). He shows an angry side, saying he wants Sammy Guevara to bleed like he did. He then attacks a Guevara look-alike, referee Mike Posey. That bloody accident last week put a lot of steam behind this feud, and this was one of Matt’s best AEW promos to follow it up. I hope this gets a spot at All Out.
Cody vs. Scorpio Sky
35 year vet Mike Chioda debuted as the referee here. He was one of the surprise cuts that WWE made during the pandemic. If not for NWA Champion Nick Aldis, I’d say Cody is the closest thing we have to a modern day Ric Flair. He has the best match every single week, and he works different styles to get the best out of every opponent. This match had a big fight feel, and it delivered as one of the best matches of the pandemic era. Sky has a penchant for making little leaps and transitions seem big and grandiose, because of the superb athlete that he is. These two took their time, they built to their moves, and they relied on crisp counter wrestling. Sky worked over Cody’s injured ribs, and Cody eventually targeted Sky’s back. This match had everything, and Cody won after a second Crossroads. After the match, Brodie Lee comes on the big screen and says that he’s challenging Cody for the (newly finished, and beautiful) TNT Title on August 22nd. While that should be an excellent match, Brodie can’t keep losing all of his big matches. Another questionable booking decision in regards to the Dark Order here. Amazing match though. Sky is a future star.
Kenny Omega/Adam Page vs. Jurassic Express
This started off pretty solid, as Omega and Jungle Boy did some nice chain action. In every big match, Jungle Boy adds flashy moves to his arsenal. You can tell he’s always working hard in the ring to evolve, and he and Luchasaurus added some tag moves as well. Luchasaurus really needs to stop the blatant leg-slapping. He’s got so much athleticism and raw potential, but he’s still very green, and his offense looks awful. Aside from the Bucks and the Lucha Bros, there are no worse leg-slap offenders in the company. This match went way too long, and felt flat in the final third. The V-Trigger/Buckshot combo helps the champions retain their titles. This match didn’t really advance either team, even though I had higher hopes for it.
Santana and Ortiz are backstage, emptying out what looks like fresh assorted items they bought earlier in the day at Target (purported to be Best Friends’ ring gear). They toss it out and dump bleach on it. The less said about this undercard mess of a prop-feud, the better.
We had the Bucks, FTR, The Rock and Roll Express, and the Brainbusters all in the ring. The four teams took turns putting each other over for their contributions in tag team wrestling’s lineage. The Bucks came across REALLY self-aggrandizing here, talking about how they revolutionized everything. I’ve truly gone sour on them since Dynamite started. Tully Blanchard cut the best promo of the bunch, saying that neither of the current teams were the best because they weren’t the champs. As Shawn Spears came out and Tully was dressing down Arn, FTR jumped Rock and Roll from behind, and spike pile-drove Ricky Morton. Good mic work here and nice heel turn by FTR. This is open ended to a lot of things, and may put heat on a possible tag title three way at All Out.
Mike Chioda is backstage, and Chris Jericho comes back and reminds him of the time he saved Chioda’s job. He wants Chioda to cheat for him tonight, and offers to help him get a job in AEW.
Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe
I’ve never seen the debuting Monroe before, and she appears to be a newer wrestler from Santino Bros and the Championship Wrestling circuit. She came off as aggressive here, and used some heel presence early on. But this was a quick squash for Shida, as she wins with a nice Stretch Muffler submission. Schiavone interviews her after the match, but she says nothing of note.
Jake Roberts is talking about fear backstage, as Archer randomly assaults plants that bump past him right in front of the camera. Archer comes over and rips Jake’s shirt off (for some reason) and “everybody dies” is written on Jake’s bare back. This was awful. Archer is starting to look very silly, and he’s been directionless since his loss to Cody.
Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
I’m surprised that this got the main event spot over Cody and Scorpio. Cassidy came out hotter and more serious this time, but Jericho used the break to overpower and control the smaller guy. Cassidy was on the top rope, about to dive to the floor, and took the extra time to put his hands in his pockets to make his dive slower and harder. He also started doing wimpy, no-power slaps later in the match. This had moments of shine (namely Jericho being pinpoint accurate with his springboards at his advanced age), but got more stale as it went on. They ran some coincidental interference that looked staged, and then Cassidy won with a botched cradle. This seemed obvious to set up a rubber match for All Out. For a comedy character, they sure give Cassidy a lot of kickouts and comebacks. No matter what they do, I can’t buy an undercard lazy comedy character beating a legend like Jericho. It’s simply not credible in my eyes.
Overall, this show was full of ups and downs. Some of the feuds are really getting hot (tag team titles, Mox/MJF, Hardy/Guevara) and the Cody/Sky match was must-see. The tag team focus was nice, and MJF was spot on. The booking of Cassidy aside, I have to scratch my head at some of the bad booking elsewhere on this show (Archer, Dark Order, undercard tags). AEW is really a mixed bag right now, but the stuff on top is pretty solid. Next week’s show is on Saturday, August 22nd. So look for a potential review from me (or someone else at PWJ) that weekend.
