Episode 62 of AEW Dynamite was coming off of the most buzzworthy show in company history. With Omega on Impact as the new AEW Champ, Sting’s debut, and the promise of Shaq this week, they would have a ton of new eyes on their product. Let’s see how they delivered.
TH2 vs. The Young Bucks
In normal Dynamite fashion, we opened with a tag team spotfest. The Bucks got an entrance while TH2 was already in the ring. Bucks had an inset promo saying that they haven’t talked to Omega since he won the title, to further his heel turn. The match itself here was just a meaningless collection of spots. The one bit of storyline they worked in was one of the Bucks powerbombing TH2 into The Acclaimed, who were sitting at ringside. The Bucks win with the BTE Trigger. After the match, The Acclaimed go to get into the ring, but SCU heads them off. I’m so glad to see The Acclaimed getting onto TV lately, they have all the tools to carry the tag team division.
MJF has a quick promo, saying Orange Cassidy is a disgrace to pro wrestling because of his comedy and pockets spots. I’m so glad we have arrogant heel MJF back, and this promo was wonderfully meta.
Darby Allin gets a black and white promo next, and he’s at a doctor’s office. He’s doing a rorschach test with ink blots. He FINALLY gets to speak here, and he keeps calling out Team Taz. He says he’s been bullied by guys like Cage his whole life, and Cage has tried to hurt him since his first day in AEW. Cage is the top contender for his title. I’m so glad they finally gave Darby a chance to verbalize who he is instead of random car burning skits and dives. He had good material here and they used continuity to make the next TNT Title match make sense. Great stuff.
Cody is out for a promo with Tony Schiavone next, but before he can speak, Sting comes out. Arn Anderson checks to see if it’s real, and Sting hugs Tony and talks about his lineage on TNT Network. Cody says he wants to share a ring with Sting, but Sting says he’s not here for Cody yet. He points up at Darby in the stands and says he looks familiar. Sting says he’ll be in AEW for a long time, and then calls Cody “kid” as he leaves. I’m glad they’re keeping Sting mysterious for now, and it’s cool to imagine a Sting/Cody feud. But I think it’s silly how Cody is keeping himself at the center of everything here. He already has an active feud with Team Taz and an unresolved deal with Shaq. He doesn’t need to be involved with Sting too. Save the Stinger for the younger guys who need the rub.
Team Taz has a short promo backstage, where Taz’ son Hook has started training with them. Taz says that his boys are ready to fight, and the group just looks and sounds so natural every week. They are one of the best parts of this show weekly now.
Varsity Blondes vs. FTR
It’s so good to see Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison getting some shine on Dynamite. Pillman has been doing well in MLW, and Garrison was in a solid team in ROH. They’ve been winning on Dark, and had a good match here, in spite of not being officially signed. FTR use their ring-generalship to cut off the ring and make their opponents fight for tags. Both of the Blondes get good hot tags here, and Pillman has a lot of bounce in his step. FTR gets the win in what feels like an old school 90s WCW tag match (in a good way) with the Goodnight Express.
Adam Page is at the bar set, and he’s told he had a six man tag match next week, but has no partners. Jon Silver and Alex Reynolds pop up from behind and say Page has no other options. Page relents and agrees, but says he won’t join their group. I’m okay with a “will he or won’t he join” angle with Page here, but why send the comedy jobber team to do the group’s recruiting of serious potential members?
10 vs. Dustin Rhodes
10 is the most underrated member of the Dark Order, and I wish he had a chance to step up as a killer while Brodie was out. Rhodes has Lee Johnson at ringside with him, for no reason. 10 doesn’t have any of the fifteen Dark Order members at ringside with him, for no reason. This is a solid but quick match, that 10 loses too easily, to a bulldog from Dustin. I wish they did more with this. After the match, Uno comes out and tries to recruit Dustin, asking him to be “Seven” (a play off of his old WCW gimmick). Dustin says no, and why wouldn’t he? Dark Order are jobbers, and he just beat them on his own. It looks like they want Dustin in the group now.
We get a studio promo with Tony Schiavone hosting Shaq and Brandi Rhodes. Shaq starts off by saying his Twitter beef with Cody got out of hand. He apologizes to Brandi and says that Jade Cargill was out of line for breaking her arm. Shaq wants Brandi and Jade to fight, and Brandi agrees. As Brandi is about to leave, Shaq tells her to take pointers from Jade, and she throws water on him. This was an odd-but-decent slow burn way to build to the Cody-Shaq match and further Jade-Brandi. Later in the night, Jade and her team jump Brandi’s friend, Red Velvet, as they’re building a small heel relationship.
The Inner Circle Ultimatum is next, and I don’t think anyone believes they’re breaking up so soon. Jericho says they need to figure out what their future is. MJF says the internet is causing it because they think he’ll turn on the group. Sammy Guevara gets in MJF’s face, but Ortiz says that he sees MJF and Wardlow as talented assets now. He tells Sammy to shake MJF’s hand. Sammy says he’ll do it because he trusts Jericho, but one more strike and he’s leaving the group. This segment actually did quite a lot. It showed Ortiz’ progression as a serious character, and showed that MJF is slowly winning over members of the group. It gave MJF a chance to address the obvious rumors, and Sammy got to stand up to everyone and feel important. Aside from a little goofiness from Hager and Wardlow at the end, it was a very good segment. Later backstage, Jericho says they’re united, even though MJF tries to make it about himself in the promo. The seeds of doubt will continue to grow here in this fun storyline.
FTR cuts a promo saying that they’re coming back to reclaim their titles and spot as the best team in the world. They’ve got a little feud brewing now with Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus.
Kingston/Butcher/Blade vs. Archer/Lucha Bros
I like the potential matchup between Lance Archer and Eddie Kingston, but it’s hard for the casual fans to know who to cheer for when you match up six heels here. Pentagon gets taken out early with a table bump, so Archer gets to run wild against three guys as he rallies. Butcher and Blade really looked good here, and their pairing with Kingston is as helpful and natural as Team Taz has been. Butcher and Blade win their second straight match with the powerbomb/neckbreaker combo. After the match, Archer gets his heat back with an attack. It’s good to get Archer back in the ring after so many dormant weeks.
Abadon vs. Tesha Price
Abadon is another one who’s FINALLY back in the ring after a long time off. She wins a quick squash here with the Widow’s Peak and looks very intense. As she attacks Price after the match, Hikaru Shida runs down and whacks her in the head with a kendo stick. Abadon sits up like the Undertaker, and Shida backs off. Abadon is unlike anything else that AEW has right now and this feud is building well.
Kenny Omega and Don Callis get off a jet and come down to the ring. Callis says that Tony Kahn invited him into AEW, so Kahn had to learn his lesson. He says that everyone bought their ruse, and it was a long-term plan. He says that he and Omega built AEW off the back of working together with Jericho in Japan. Omega takes the mic and says there are more surprises to come, and then does his old “cleaner” catchphrase. Callis is money on the mic, and this was Omega’s best promo in AEW so far. His voice and mannerisms are still a bit unconvincing, but he’s trying a lot harder in his heel persona, and his look has improved. Callis adds a LOT to Omega’s game. This has potential.
MJF vs. Orange Cassidy
This was for the Dynamite Diamond Ring, which MJF won last year. MJF starts off by breaking Orange Cassidy’s glasses, and working over his hand. Without the glasses and pockets gimmick, Cassidy is actually tolerable. Points to MJF for making Cassidy watchable, both in real life (by adding psychology to his match), and in kayfabe (by neutralizing all of Cassidy’s trademark stuff). After a good match (Cassidy’s best in AEW), a bunch of undercard jobbers come out to even the odds against the Inner Circle and brawl. Miro comes out and lays out Cassidy, which allows MJF to get the sneaky win. More brawls erupt, and Miro starts tossing around security. It’s the second week in a row that AEW has gotten more serious with Miro and made him look like a dominant badass.
Overall, it’s hard to say that this is anything but a thumbs up show. They came off their best show yet, and delivered a solid effort and left a lot of mysteries to tune in for. In spite of the bad (Bucks/TH2 and Dark Order), the match quality this week was solid again. But the real strength was in the promos. They advanced Shaq/Cody, gave Sting an open ended deal, pushed ahead the Inner Circle stuff, and did a lot for Darby & Team Taz. They have the talent here, they just need to stay serious about them. We have a nice mix of returning talent and new unsigned prospects here, and they’re showing a lot of potential. Let’s hope they keep building next week.
