Pantoja’s AEW Dynamite Review 4.13.22

AEW Dynamite

April 13th, 2022 | UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana

On paper, this is a fantastic episode so let’s see if it lives up to the hype.

CM Punk (15-1) vs. Penta Oscuro (61-30)

Penta and Jungle Boy have to have the most matches under their AEW belts. This is a wild match to see because a year after Punk left wrestling, I became a huge Pentagon fan in Lucha Underground and never thought I’d see this. The atmosphere for this was great. This got off to a hot start with a chop exchange and the guys throwing everything at each other. They worked through a break and admittedly, it seems like they missed a bit towards the middle. That included Punk slipping off the top on a rana and hurting his knee a bit more. Things picked up down the stretch with them trading submissions and counters. Penta kept wanting to break the arm and Punk kept trying Go to Sleep but both got stopped. The finish was a cool idea though Penta pointing at the ropes before springboarding made it awkward. He springboarded right into the GTS, losing in a great 13:33. I really liked that. It felt like an indy super match with no real purpose but that’s okay sometimes. [***½]

Earlier today, the Jericho group arrived on a tiny private plane. Well, Jericho, Hager, and Garcia got to ride. Eddie Kingston and Santana and Ortiz pulled up in a car to reveal they had already beaten up 2.0.

AEW World Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express [c] (36-9) vs. reDRagon (1-1)

It warms my heart to hear reDRagon’s theme again and see them donning the old jackets and everything. While everyone was talking about The Young Bucks from 2013-2016, I was praising reDRagon and the Time Splitters. The teams traded stuff to start with neither gaining a clear upper hand and it was pretty entertaining. A cheap shot from Bobby Fish turned the tide in favor of the challengers as they isolated Jungle Boy heading into the break. After he took the heat, Luchasaurus kicked ass on his hot tag because he’s fantastic at it. Seriously, Jurassic Express have really nailed down the formula. The wildest spot of the match was Fish doing an avalanche Falcon Arrow that saw him jump over Kyle holding Luchasaurus in a guillotine. We got the barrage of strikes and kicks late before Kyle was sent outside and Bobby fell to Throwassic Express in 13:45. A hell of a match that continued to showcase how good AEW’s tag team division is. I still want The Acclaimed as champions soon though. [***¾]

Post-match, Kyle O’Reilly attacked the champs with a chair. As they went to leave, FTR’s theme hit to a MONSTER pop. They had their titles and “6-Star FTR” shirts. They posed in front of reDRagon, teasing a match. Maybe they go over reDRagon in a banger like they had on NXT (****¼) before moving onto the titles again.

The Blackpool Combat Club was interviewed in the back, complete with Wheeler YUTA wearing one of the group’s shirts. They made their debut as a trio on Friday against the Ass Boys and Ass Man. The Gunn guys are 24-0 as a trio. Moxley said he doesn’t know them but he doesn’t like them and they’ll break their faces open. I love this stable.

Tony Schiavone spoke with Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter again. Though the Owen Hart brackets haven’t been announced, this match is official because the fans want it. Jamie cut a promo about how bad she wants the match but Toni just smiled and walked off.

MJF (31-10) vs. Shawn Dean (5-1)

MJF faked not being able to remove his jacket but it was a ploy to jump Dean, who he threw around with relative ease. Less than a minute into this, security was shown laid out backstage and one guy had no shirt on anymore. MJF beat up Dean outside nad posed when a security guard walked up and removed his mask to reveal himself as Wardlow. The ovation was wild. He no sold a chair shot from Spears but had to lay out security again before he could get his hands on MJF or Spears. As security held Wardlow back, MJF was too scared to get back in the ring. He bribed Bryce Remsburg to not count to 10 but Bryce did and Dean won via countout in 3:54. Not much of a match but they’re doing GREAT with Wardlow. [NR]

I always like to gauge my gf’s reaction to these shows to see how a casual fan sees it. She’s really digging the Wardlow stuff every week and so am I.

A Darby Allin vignette aired to hype his Coffin Match with Andrade next week. God, I hope Andrade wins.

Malakai Black cut a promo that was likely too long to be about Fuego del Sol.

Chris Jericho (39-16-1), Daniel Garcia (21-15), and Jake Hager (17-12) vs. Eddie Kingston (39-15), Santana and Ortiz (32-10)

Kingston was out with a “Thump” shirt in honor of JYD. I honestly don’t have all that much to say about this match. It was fine and mildly entertaining while being worked well. As much as I like Garcia, I just can’t get into this Jericho stable at all. So even when they’re facing three guys I really like, there’s nothing there for me. I would’ve swapped this for a second women’s match since the ladies still desperately need more time in AEW and you could’ve furthered this program with a segment or something. Anyway, Kingston got the hot tag after a while and went right after Garcia. 2.0 showed up down the stretch and caused a slight distraction as Kingston got his hands on Garcia. Alas, Jericho hit Kingston with the bat and Garcia stole this in 11:45. It was a solid match but again, I just don’t care. [**¾]

It was followed by another assault from the heels.

Backstage, MJF said he was going to put Wardlow to work. Next week, he’ll go one on one with The Butcher. That’ll be fun but it felt like an underwhelming reveal.

Marina Shafir (4-0) vs. Skye Blue (3-6)

Skye Blue is way popular. We got a look at the Baddies Section, which interestingly included Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan. Honestly, I may not be a Velvet fan but I’d be totally down for a stable of them with Jade. Of note, as soon as they showed the girls, JR was like, “They look nice,” and it came off so creepily. Shafir dominated here but a lot of it came off awkwardly like she’s not ready for TV just yet. Jade didn’t take her seriously in the back, which troubled Sterling. She won with a triangle in 2:22. [NR]

Earlier today, Hook was interviewed but again said nothing. Mark Sterling showed up with Tony Nese wondering why they aren’t getting interviewed. They backed off when Hook got up and then Danhausen showed up in funny looking workout gear. Hook threw the medicine ball at him and it just ended. Could’ve been better.

The Men of the Year cut a prom dissing Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti ahead of Sammy getting a TNT Title shot on Saturday. Scorpio all day!

Keith Lee (5-1) and Swerve Strickland (1-1) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs (44-19) and Ricky Starks (43-9)

Ricky Starks got a huge pop in his hometown and had tears in his eyes at hearing the reaction. It was awesome to see. I’ve become a big Starks fan. All four of these guys are really good and it showed here. I liked Hobbs tossing Swerve around and just staring down Keith Lee. I dug Ricky getting a great pop for his tag and taunt. Lee came in and did his thing heading into break before Swerve got isolated. Lee got the hot tag after the commercial and leap frogged Hobbs in an impressive moment. Down the stretch, Starks got going and the near fall on the flipping DDT was tremendous. The crowd badly wanted his win. As they kept trading close calls, Taz came out for a closer look to “ECW” chants. Starks managed to Spear Lee but Swerve landed on him with a 450 right after. Taz tripped up Lee, which led to Hobbs beating him with the Spinebuster after 11:58. I loved that. [***¾]

RAMPAGE

· Hangman Page defends the AEW Title against Adam Cole in a Texas Death Match

· Blackpool Combat Club vs. Ass Boys & Ass Dad

· Ruby Soho vs. Robyn Renegade in an Owen Tournament Qualifier

BATTLE OF THE BELTS II

· Scorpio Sky vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title

· Thunder Rosa vs. Nyla Rose for the Women’s Title

· Jonathan Gresham vs. Dalton Castle for the ROH World Title

They did a lame segment here involving Thunder Rosa, Nyla Rose, Vickie Guerrero, cake, and a brawl.

DYNAMITE

· Wardlow vs. The Butcher

· Hook debuts on Dynamite.

· Britt Baker vs. Danielle Kamela in an Owen qualifier

· Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jungle Boy in an Owen qualifier

· Darby Allin vs. Andrade in a Coffin Match

· Yet another Tony Khan announcement

A video package aired to hype Cole/Page.

ROH Television Championship: Minoru Suzuki [c] (0-0 in 2022) vs. Samoa Joe (1-0)

This opened just like Suzuki’s match with Hiromu a few months ago in that they just wailed on each other with vicious chops for several minutes. Seriously, they didn’t do anything else until the first commercial break. Both men had red chests and Suzuki even laughed in the face of some shots. It was wild. After the break, they did more traditional stuff but still kept up the intensity. Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt were watching from ringside as well. Suzuki and Joe avoided each other’s finishers and chokes before Joe countered a hanging armbar and hit the Muscle Buster to win the title in 11:34. I wish the ending was an abrupt but that still ruled. [***¾]

Lethal and Dutt revealed their special gift for Joe which as Lethal flipping him off. Then, the lights went out and when they came on, a giant Indian basketball player named Satnam Singh appeared. He attacked Joe and put him down with the Great Khali vice grip in an ending that the crowd didn’t care for. Not worth the hyped overrun.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

The obvious weak points of the show were the women’s match and the ending. Otherwise, this was pretty fantastic. Four matches between ***½ and ***¾, a great Wardlow segment, and some hype for upcoming shows. Entertaining all the way around.