Episode 68 of AEW Dynamite was coming off of their two-part New Year’s Bash shows, and is just two weeks prior to their Beach Break special. Let’s see how they did to hype up their next special event.
Silver/Reynolds/Cabana/Page vs. TH2/Chaos Project
Tonight was Negative One’s (Brodie Lee Jr’s) birthday, so they had him come out with Dark Order, and lit his cake on the top of the ramp. They showed that he cut a promo on Luther on Dark, leading up to this 8 man tag of his choosing. They sing him happy birthday, and Luther comes out and says they’ll ruin his birthday. The match kicks off with a brawl and Page comes out with a monster dive. Page was bumping around like crazy here, but he seemed a step off tonight. Luther and Serpentico are absolutely horrid in the ring. This fast moving tag was all to set up Negative One with a cane shot to Luther, and Dark Order got the pin. Negative One hit Serpentico with a cane, and Dark Order asked Page to join their group. Page said no and walked off, but their celebration erroneously started anyway. This was just a poor comedy segment with silly undercard talent (sans Adam Page). Page is wasted here and Dark Order is unbearable in their tone and childishness. But good on AEW for having Brodie’s son celebrate his birthday with him. It’s just WAY TOO SOON to be using him as an active talent. Like a decade too soon.
MJF and Chris Jericho cut a promo backstage, and Jericho convinced MJF that this Inner Circle tag match later tonight was a good idea. MJF says they’ll prove their dominance. They two have good charisma together, and this was short and to the point.
Sting and Darby Allin were out for a promo together, and Sting starts to congratulate Darby for being TNT Champion. Before he barely got anything out, Team Taz pops up on the big screen. Taz says his boys are street fighters and they should take it to the streets. Darby says “be careful what you wish for.” It’s smart to put Sting in a brawl and minimize his involvement here, and Team Taz is great on the mic. But AEW’s use of Sting so far has been repetitive and meandering.
The Young Bucks are seen going to Kenny Omega’s house. Alex Marvez is there for some reason, and Michael Nakazawa lets them in. They are pointed to a topless painting of Omega and Don Callis, and Callis comes down to greet them. Callis tries to buy off the Bucks, offering them checks for their friendship with Omega. They are talking over each other a bit, so some of the points and intensity are lost. But the Bucks say Callis is using Kenny, and then Callis falls back into the camera and yells. I get what they were going for here, but it was still a bit too coincidental and comedic in tone. The painting and the use of Nakazawa didn’t fit the rest. Even still, Callis is a great slimy character who did his best to redeem this awkward segment.
Cody Rhodes vs. Peter Avalon
I believe this is Avalon’s first time ever on Dark. Excalibur tried to explain a bit about him, but that was it. Cody instantly hits his finish, but doesn’t go for a pin. Jade Cargill comes out on the stage, distracts Cody, and then leaves twenty seconds later. This match goes way too long for what should’ve been a squash. Avalon botches a leapfrog and appeared to injure Cody. Cody hooks him in the figure four, and after being in it a long time, Avalon taps out to avoid being punched in the face. In spite of the finish being about Peter being “pretty”, it was very stupid to throw away his biggest match ever in a fashion like that. Between the length to the botches to Cargill to the pacing, this was a total mess.
FTR are backstage and they say they want the Tag Titles. Jungle Boy comes in and says he can beat any of them, so Dax Harwood accepts. Luchasaurus says he’ll be at ringside next week to make sure nobody interferes. This tag team feud fits nicely as long as Stunt isn’t getting physical.
Jon Moxley vs. Nick Comoroto
This is also Comoroto’s first time on Dynamite, and he’s lost on Dark twice. He’s a student of QT Marshall’s. Again, there’s no package or promo or anything for this new face on TNT. Much like Avalon, this should’ve been a squash. But Comoroto actually gets the lion’s share of the offense here. He has a great look and he executes very well in the ring, but this is just very ill timed. If they wanted to give Comoroto a rub here, they should’ve given him some fanfare before having him beat up a former World Champion. Good match though, which Moxley wins with the choke. After the match, he gets the mic and says he’s glad all these new bodies (like the Good Brothers) are here in AEW, because there are more guys for him to hurt. Good promo.
Eddie Kinston has a promo backstage, where he starts to talk about Pac and Archer, and Archer interrupts. They talk and yell over each other, so nothing is heard. Kingston vs. Archer next week should be great, but give Eddie two minutes to talk before you jumble it up into another yelling match. They wasted an opportunity to sell the match here.
Kenny Omega walks into the building to see Don Callis, and Callis has a massive black eye. He lets it slip that the Bucks did this to him, and Omega is furious. I’m betting Callis faked this injury to further drive a wedge between Omega and the Bucks.
Matt Sydal/Top Flight vs. Matt Hardy/Private Party
Private Party appeared with Hardy on last night’s Impact Wrestling show and won a tag team match. So they’re now the new #1 contenders for Impact’s Tag Team Titles. Matt Hardy seems to be back to his old “Big Money Matt” gimmick. The match is mostly flips and spots that get sloppy early on, until Hardy convinces Private Party to get more aggressive. Kassidy actually uses a chair on Top Flight, turning heel to get the win with a Quen shooting star press. After the match, Hardy and Party jump the faces, cementing that Private Party is now fully heel under Hardy’s evil management. This will be good for Private Party, both in a sense of character depth and to slow down their spot matches.
MJF is backstage, rallying the Inner Circle for their tag match tonight. He wins them all over, and starts to weaken Sammy Guevara, who’s still not sure about him. MJF is a master heel here, and Sammy has shown really nice fire and depth during this angle.
Leyla Hirsch vs. Penelope Ford
Hirsch was initially supposed to face Nyla Rose, but Rose was exposed to someone who had Covid. This match never seemed to really gel, in spite of having two great athletes in it. They played up Hirsch being totally outnumbered, as Chuck “Charles” Taylor is Miro’s butler at ringside. Ford gets the win when Kip holds Hirsh’s foot, in a disappointing match that had its moments. Miro takes the mic and tells Taylor to tell Orange Cassidy (who’s sitting in the crowd) that Miro is Taylor’s new best friend now, and he does. I say it every week, but this whole thing is a waste of Miro here.
The Good Brothers and Kenny Omega jump Pentagon in the back, setting up the Bullet Club vs. Moxley/Pac/Fenix as the main event of Beach Break in two weeks.
Jericho/MJF vs. Santana/Ortiz vs. Hager/Guevara
This main event was a long, but fast paced three-team match to see who the Inner Circle’s official tag team is. Sammy Guevara was pretty much the star here, using supreme cardio to fly around the ring on everyone. Santana and Ortiz are very underrated, and had some creative sequences here. Jericho was gassed out toward the end, as he had to step onto the ropes for the Lionsault, and missed it pretty badly. The false finish skirmish ran long, and MJF got the cheap roll-up about ten seconds before the show went off the air.
Overall, this was one of the weaker Dynamite shows I’ve seen. The whole first half was inundated with bad comedy (Dark Order, Luther, Avalon, Nakazawa) and the jobbers went way too long with the stars (Avalon/Cody and Comoroto/Moxley). The Sting and Cargill segments (respectively) went nowhere and continue to run in circles. But they did give Bullet Club and Inner Circle multiple segments to run with their heel angles, and the Hardy Party stuff is progressing very nicely. So while the tone and timing of the show felt way off tonight, at least there were some redeeming segments. I’m hoping next week’s show is tighter as we head toward Beach Break.
