Pantoja’s AEW Dynamite Review 10.5.22

AEW Dynamite Anniversary

October 5th, 2022 | Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.

It’s Dynamite’s three-year anniversary but all anyone is talking about is the altercation in the back between Andrade and Sammy Guevara.

MJF (16-2 on Dynamite) vs. Wheeler Yuta (14-10 in 2022)

Wild that this is Max’s first match in 129 days. The stage to the ring is shorter than usual by the way. Yuta gained the first upper hand with some quick offense and he taunted, frustrating MJF. The tides turned going into the commercial break with MJF taking over. Returning, Yuta did his rebound gimmick outside and started throwing German suplexes. MJF did his usual smart stuff like rolling away from offense and taking advantage of small openings. This got better as it went on with the pin attempt barrage into more counters being a highlight. I appreciate that you can see the influence of a guy like Jon Moxley on Yuta with some of the offense he busted out. His splash near fall got a great reaction too. Yuta looked to be in control only for MJF to find a way to trap him in a modified Salt of the Earth and Yuta submitted in 15:00. A hell of a way to start the show. [***¾]

Post-match, Yuta offered MJF a surprising handshake that MJF was conflicted over. Lee Moriarty showed up to jump Yuta just as MJF nearly accepted. MJF yelled at Lee that he didn’t tell him to do that but Stokely Hathaway gave him the Dynamite Diamond ring and seemed to convince him. However, William Regal got up and put brass knux on, scaring off Stoke. He faced off with MJF, who chose to leave instead.

A video package aired to hype the Garcia and Danielson/Guevara and Jericho main event. The JAS was interviewed afterward with Guevara still on TV while Andrade was sent home. Sammy got booed when he spoke and they all dissed Garcia and ROH.

Darby Allin (67-25-1) vs. Jay Lethal (19-7)

How does Jay Lethal keep getting so much TV time? This is my nightmare. It’s hard to feign interest here. Both guys landed on their feet on monkey flip attempts and Jay went right for the knee to do his Figure Four setup. Darby used a reverse DDT to open the door heading into the break but the continued work on his leg kept him on the ground. That led to a lot of Figure Four teases and they’re just never any good. Dutt and Singh came out only for Jay to send them to the back again. Darby and Jay decided to do a series of pin attempts that would be okay if it wasn’t JUST in the last match. Darby used that to win with his pinning combination after 10:14. That wasn’t really any good and the crowd was dead for it. [**]

After the match, Darby told Jay to forget about his boys and shake the hand. Jay aggressively did it and walked off. Why did they just repeat a lesser version of the opener and follow-up?

A video aired to hype The Embassy though there isn’t much to show because ROH barely runs and this team hasn’t done much. I do love Nana though.

AEW TNT Championship: Wardlow [c] (22-2 in 2022) vs. Brian Cage (32-6)

TWO BIG MEN, WITH BIG CHESTS, BUMPING MEAT. On paper, this gives me vibes of the sick Cage/Matanza match from Lucha Underground. They traded some athletic stuff early, showing just how impressive both guys are. Cage took over heading into the break and felt like the first dude to really put Wardlow on his heels. Upon return, Wardlow busted out Whisper in the Wind, doing stuff I’ve never seen from him before. Cage hitting the deadlift Bret’s rope suplex was pretty sick given Wardlow’s size. Cage decided to mock Wardlow with some powerbomb teases but Wardlow slipped out and hit one of his own. He delivered three more to the delight of the fans to retain the title in 10:03. That was a good old fashioned hoss battle and Wardlow just keeps getting better and better. [***½]

Afterward, the other Embassy dudes jumped Wardlow until Samoa Joe ran out. The numbers overcame them until FTR hit the ring. You remember FTR, right? They have three titles but seem to not want the AEW Tag Titles. The Embassy bailed.

We got a promo from Britt Baker in the back saying that Saraya isn’t medically cleared and that she should be shipped off.

Athena (6-2), Toni Storm (14-2) and Willow Nightingale (5-6 in 2022) vs. Jamie Hayter (6-3 in 2022), Penelope Ford (33-14) and Serena Deeb (23-4)

Once again, Jamie Hayter was wildly over. Like, during the entrances, the crowd was just chanting for her. Athena ditched the mask and is back to wings for some reason. As usual, giving the women proved to be a solid move as the talent is never the issue with the division, it’s AEW’s lack of care and devotion to it. Britt was out with the heels and Saraya with the faces by the way. They worked through the break and again, Hayter was really all the fans seemed to be into. Despite that, the focus on the hot tag and such went to Willow Nightingale, who met Hayter on Rampage last week. Saraya and Britt argued a bit at ringside. The finish saw Nightingale hit a Doctor Bomb on Ford at the 9:29 mark. That was a good multi-woman tag though I’m unsure about who got the win since the likes of Hayter and Athena could’ve used it more. [***]

Britt got in the faces of the winners after the match sparking an actual fight with Saraya, who laid out Rebel to end it. God, nothing about Saraya/Britt interests me in the slightest.

Backstage, Jose the Assistant showed Private Party footage of how they haven’t helped out much lately. We got more contract tampering talk as if anyone cares about this storyline.

It’s time for the National Scissoring Day celebration. Daddy Ass is as over as Jamie Hayter. They had a podium in the ring and put over their Scissor Me, Daddy Ass shirt as the best selling in 2022 and that they’re AEW’s best homegrown team. AEW now stands for Acclaimed Every Wednesday. Bowens explained that scissoring is a handshake that’s a sign of friendship and being a real team. They’re a true team unlike two singles guys in Keith Lee and Sneaky Swerve. It’s not Swerve’s House, it’s Daddy Ass’ House. He presented The Acclaimed with Golden Scissors only for Bowens to run with it like a madman. They then asked everyone in the crowd to scissor each other as a sign of peace and friendship. DC might divide the country but EVERYONE LOVES THE ACCLAIMED. The fun was interrupted by Swerve, who is second to Jey Uso on the list of wrestling’s top haters right now. He called this segment idiotic and chastised Billy for costing he and Lee the titles. So, he challenged Gunn to a singles match next week in Toronto to take him out ahead of any potential third encounter. He also had a rock in his hand, which beat scissors. That led to Mark Sterling coming out with paper, which beats rock. He’s still anti-Swerve and offered his services to The Acclaimed. He got beat up for it and Swerve watched the scissoring in disgust. That went a bit long but was a TON of fun. I loved The Acclaimed.

A vignette aired to hype Dark Order getting a Trios Title shot on Friday, which is the anniversary of Brodie Lee’s final match.

Madison Rayne was interviewed with Skye Blue and put her over as a rising star. Tay and Anna Jay interrupted to diss them, including Rayne as a wrestling coach. That set up a sports entertainers vs. wrestlers challenge.

Hangman Page (31-9-1) vs. Rush (5-4)

I feel like Rush has already wrestled more matches in AEW than Andrade. That man got no shine in this company. There wasn’t really much to this match since everyone knew Hangman wouldn’t lose ahead of his title match and Rush is pretty cold. They headed outside before a commercial break and brawled there before returning. I feel like a lot of this went on during the break. Hangman won with the Buckshot Lariat in a forgettable 9:05. Yeah, I didn’t write much because nothing of note really happened, though it was fine. [**½]

Private Party came out to attack Hangman only for Jon Moxley to show up. They backed away as Moxley said he’s been waiting three years for this because they’ve circled each other and beaten everyone except each other. He said he’ll beat him in his hometown because he’s in the way of him being the one true top guy in the company. Hangman wanted to fight now but Moxley shrugged it off, calling him a good kid whose mouth gets him in trouble. MJF was watching in the back.

Willow Nightingale was interviewed and she is now going to be Jade Cargill’s next opponent. What happened to Nyla Rose? She felt like something of a threat but Nightingale has no shot and already lost to Jade a bit ago. The Baddies interrupted and this was hard to get interested in.

Fuego Del Sol vs. Luchasaurus (10-2)

They didn’t show Fuego Del Sol’s record but it didn’t matter. Luchasaurus put him down with a Cutthroat Driver of sorts in 0:23. [NR]

Jungle Boy arrived with a chair and sent Luchasaurus packing. He called the big man his best friend but he somehow chose Christian over him, breaking his heart. He challenged Luchasaurus and Christian named Toronto as the place to do it.

RAMPAGE

· Death Triangle defends the Trios Titles against Dark Order

· Tony Nese and Josh Woods vs. The Varsity Blonds

· TayJay vs. Madison Rayne and Skye Blue

· Private Party and Rush vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta

BATTLE OF THE BELTS IV

· Jade Cargill defends the TBS Title against Willow Nightingale

· FTR defends the ROH Tag Titles against Gates of Agony

· PAC defends the All-Atlantic Title against Beretta

DYNAMITE

· Jungle Boy vs. Luchasaurus

· Daddy Ass vs. Swerve Strickland

· Chris Jericho defends the ROH World Title against Bryan Danielson

Bryan Danielson (32-7-2) and Daniel Garcia (16-8 in 2022) vs. Chris Jericho (7-3 in 2022) and Sammy Guevara (12-3 in 2022)

Legitimately a weird decision to keep Sammy Guevara in the main event after the drama. How does he keep getting involved in backstage stuff and getting away with no punishment? What does he have on Tony Khan? Major heat for Sammy, including “Fuck you Sammy” chants. Danielson took the early beating as Sammy and Jericho taunted for the crowd. There was an “Hire an HR expert” sign in the crowd, so 10/10 for that. We got the hot tag to Garcia who came in great. I’m really liking the potential he has as a top babyface. Sammy landing on his feet to survive the double back suplex was funny because it got no reaction. Honestly, I’d have not popped or booed anything. Silence for him. Garcia turned the GTH into a piledriver but things were broken up. We got our obligatory table spot as Jericho suplexed Danielson through it. Jericho returned to break up Garcia’s submission with a belt shot and Sammy stole the pin in 14:23. Oof, the optics of not sending Sammy home AND giving him the main event win are all kinds of bad. The match was fine. [**¾]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

That was a hell of a show up until the post-Acclaimed segment. Hangman/Rush and the main event didn’t really do it for me. The first half ruled though.