Pantoja’s AEW Dynamite Review 7.6.22

AEW Dynamite

July 6th, 2022 | Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York

AEW TNT Championship Street Fight: Scorpio Sky [c] (63-17) vs. Wardlow (53-8)

I still find it weird that Wardlow was like, “I don’t want the interim World Title” because that basically made the title feel lesser than. Sky had Ethan Page and several Top Team folks with him. Wardlow got Goldberg like slow chants. He dominated early but then Sky got some help outside and managed to swing the momentum a bit heading into the commercial break. Returning, Wardlow hit one of the prettiest Swanton Bombs you will ever see. That shit was clean. Wardlow fought off the goons outside and took down the straps. TITS OUT WARDLOW IS THE BEST WARDLOW. Powerbomb Symphony followed and we had a new champion after 8:29. They barely used the stipulation and that’s okay. This wasn’t some bitter, personal feud. It also wasn’t a great match but again, it was more about just getting the title onto Wardlow which was the right mow. Now just make the belt mean something again. [**½]

Jon Moxley cut a promo about how people believe Brody King will beat him tonight. I get the idea of that but nobody actually thinks that. I do like how Moley said he hurt a man he respects in Tanahashi and just did Blood and Guts so he’s ready. He knows who Brody is and he’s ready.

Backstage, Menacing Mike Sterling and Tony Nese tried to get Keith Lee to sign a petition to get Swerve Strickland out of AEW for stabbing people in the back at Royal Rampage. Lee declined because they have issues but they’re partners and still winning, unlike Nese.

Christian Cage and Luchasaurus hit the ring for some promo time. Christian said that even after Blood and Guts, he’s the cage everyone is talking about. Surprisingly, Matt Hardy interrupted to say that what he did to Jungle Boy was wrong and that he manipulated him. Christian’s response was that Matt makes so little sense that he makes his brother sound like the sober one. JESUS CHRIST CHRISTIAN, YOU MADMAN. Christian looked so proud of himself for that one. Matt admitted that he’s used people in the past and regrets it but Christian called him jealous that he’s in the spotlight now. He said he used his family, a DILAPIDATED BOAT, and more to get over. Christian added that Matt was a bigger loser than Jeff, leading to a brawl. Luchasaurus being there meant Matt got his ass kicked and took a chokeslam through a table. Christian Cage is incredible. Seriously, he’s one of the best to ever do it.

After a recap of Blood and Guts, Tony Schiavone weirdly interviewed Jake Hager and Claudio Castagnoli in the parking lot. Hager said that unlike him, Claudio has never been a World Champion or an undefeated MMA star. Claudio’s promo wasn’t great but they basically will have a match at Fyter Fest next week.

The Butcher and The Blade (25-11) vs. Swerve In Our Glory (7-2)

This actually stems from issues over the past couple of weeks, including at the Royal Rampage. The faces cleaned house early, causing Butcher to go for a steel chair. I loved Blade calming him down by saying “top five” since they’re ranked #4 and don’t want to risk not getting a title shot. A Bunny distraction helped the heels get in control heading into the commercial break. Returning, Swerve knocked Butcher off the top and hit a diving uppercut to set up the hot tag to Keith Lee. We got one near fall out of it that the crowd thought ended this before Swerve in Our Glory won with their Doomsday finisher in 9:38. Another solid match. [**½]

Team Taz came out to run down Swerve in Our Glory, They’re sick of hearing about the team and Ricky Starks was ON FIRE on the mic. Seriously, make this man a major star AEW. As he really got going, the Young Bucks interrupted. They don’t want to hear about “best teams” since they’re the best. They made another reference to star ratings and you know how much I don’t like that. 1) One person’s ratings don’t matter and 2) your focus should be on wins from a kayfabe perspective, not the quality. Anyway, the Bucks issued a three-way title match challenge for next week as the fans chanted “FTR” loudly. They totally have to do Bucks/FTR III at All Outor on a major show but the problem I have here is this Fyter Fest match. 1) AEW is beyond overdoing the triple threat tag gimmick and 2) these two teams don’t need to lose again. Butcher/Blade, Private Party, 2.0, Varsity Blonds, Anderson/Lee, Best Friends are all better options for a title match on TV that can afford losses.

Malakai Black cut a promo saying that Brody will make Moxley experience things beyond the physical realm of pain.

Eddie Kingston came out for a promo but he was almost immediately interrupted after he said he didn’t get to make Jericho bleed. Jericho and his crew were on screen in the parking lot, beating up Ruby Soho. Ruby clearly placed her hand in the door of the car and had time to move it as Tay slammed it shut. It looked terrible and amateurish. AEW gets a lot right but sometimes, their production stuff like this just looks so bad.

The Dark Order came out with -1 as they are in Brodie Lee’s hometown of Rochester. They just said that the Dark Order was here to stay. QT Marshall interrupted, annoyed at Negative One and threatening to fight him. -1 had to be held back by his team. This bullying would not be tolerated though as Hangman Page came out. QT took a beating and -1 said he’d have pinned him now but he’ll wait until he’s 18. Nothing to this but a nice little way to get -1 on TV and pop the live crowd.

Jim Ross got a special entrance as he joined the booth even though he’s really bad at the job now.

Penta Oscuro (66-34) vs. Rush (0-0)

Getting the first hour main event slot and given some of the hype here, this should be good. They started things with some quality back and forth before heading outside where Alex and Jose the Assistant got into it. That led us to a commercial break and when we came back, they traded a Backstabber and powerslam. I liked how this had a bit of intensity to it with things like headbutts and more strikes than you might expect. Rush took the Package Piledriver but Andrade put his foot on the bottom rope to save him. Rush then stole Penta’s mask and hit him low to win in 11:04. It was good but kind of disappointing. [***]

We got another Jay Lethal promo on Samoa Joe. They meet at Death Before Dishonor, which somehow costs $40. Yeah, okay, pal.

Mark Sterling tried to get Best Friends to sign his petition but Orange Cassidy wouldn’t sign without his lawyer, Danhausen. He hilariously just spouted off random legal terms and an annoyed Sterling suggested Nese vs. OC for Rampage, only for Danhausen to usurp the idea and make it his own.

The Acclaimed (35-9) and The Gunn Club (10-2) vs. Fuego Del Sol and Ruffin It (0-0)

The Gunn Club stole the microphone from Max Caster during the entrance. The match was short and to the point and my favorite part was seeing Bowens in action again. Max hit the Mic Drop but Austin tagged himself in and stole the pin at 2:14. [NR]

Post-match, the winning teams shoved each other and Billy Gunn tossed his kids aside before clotheslining Max. Bowens tragically wanted Daddy Ass to scissor him but instead he gave him a Fameasser, breaking our hearts. I am weirdly so invested in this.

We heard from Miro who is apparently targeting Malakai Black for spitting mist at the PPV.

Marina Shafir (9-4) and Nyla Rose (71-30) vs. ThunderStorm (10-2 & 57-8)

The ThunderStorm name is too perfect. Rose and Shafir hit the ring with umbrellas. GET IT? STORMS? The cameraman seemed really focus on being behind Thunder Rosa in the early stages. She and Storm worked well together but the heels held serve throughout the commercial break. Rosa hit an ugly dropkick and did it a second time to try and fix it. Toni came in and took out Marina with the hip attack and then Rosa won with the Fire Thunder Driver in 9:07. Ultimately fine and nothing more like a lot of this show. Man, can the women go on in a different time slot? [**½]

Stokely Hathaway introduced Leila Gray as an interim baddie. Hogan and Cargill weren’t happy and Jade said if it didn’t work out, it’s on Stokely.

RAMPAGE

· Konosuke Takeshita vs. Eddie Kingston

· Serena Deeb and Mercedes Martinez in action

· Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty vs. Gates of Agony

· Orange Cassidy vs. Tony Nese

DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR

· Jay Lethal vs. Samoa Joe for the TV Title

· Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the Pure Title

FYTER FEST

· Jake Hager vs. Claudio Castagnoli

· The Young Bucks vs. Team Taz vs. Swerve in Our Glorys

AEW Interim World Championship: Jon Moxley [c] (51-4-1) vs. Brody King (10-1)

I came in looking forward to two tough dudes beating the hell out of each other and that’s just what I got. It was a slugfest from the opening bell and saw Moxley bust out a Figure Four to try and slow down his larger opponent. I love him doing that because it works so well within the BCC. They slugged it out a bit more into the commercial break and upon returning, they fought over a superplex. I feel like that was the return from break spot in like three matches today. Moxley kept going for submissions, throwing in a dragon sleeper and rear naked chokes. Brody was too big at times, overpowering him with relative ease. I liked Brody bringing back the hanging choke that won him the Royal Rampage and it looked impressive on Moxley. The champ hit Paradigm Shift and went for a choke. Brody powered out but got trapped again, submitting in 11:14. That was a really good, hard hitting main event. [***½]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I’ve seen a lot of people be down on this episode but AEW can’t deliver an 8 or 9/10 show each week. This worked for what it was, acting as a stopgap between Blood & Guts and Fyter Fest. Nothing was bad, we had a good main event, Wardlow won, and the Acclaimed segment crushed me.