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COMPLETE AEW DYNAMITE BLOG

We are kicking things off with something never before seen on Dynamite, a Wardlow interview with the highly underused Dasha Gonzalez.  We are CLEARLY gearing up for Wardlow and MJF breaking up as MJF basically says Wardlow will have to lay down for him when he becomes AEW Champion. Sammy Guevara shows up and gets in MJFs face.  OK I’m down with Sammy and MJF having their issues.  Hell, Sammy sounded great as a ticked off babyface giving MJF the business.  I’m down with that.  However, aren’t we putting the cart before the horse here?  In 10 days, Sammy, as a snarky, cocky heel, is headed to the Hardy Compound to engage in a supposedly vicious fight with uber babyface Matt Hardy.  There’s a time for Sammy to get fired up.  This might not be the week to do that as at some point Sammy will have to do something nefarious to Hardy.

At least MJF wasn’t singing.

Wardlow vs. Hangman Page kicks us off.  This ought to be good.  We’re clearly leading to a Page v Omega final.  Wardlow is the perfect opponent to get Page over as a man who can win against a monster.  Spear by Wardlow through the rail.  That had to hurt.  As I was saying, Page will have to go all out here.  The only caveat to that is that Page has had to go all out in almost every match he’s had since the tag team broke up.  This is where the ultra competitive matches he’s had against Colt Cabana and Frankie Kazarian comes back to hurt him.

Wardlow has great presence and does a senton with amazing grace.  May have tried it too soon. He wrestles an excellent big man style for a guy so young and Page works real well with him.  Wardlow has the Buckshot lariat scouted well, much like Colt Cabana did last week.  Fallaway slam and two buckshot lariats and Page gets the win.  Excellent opener tonight.  The right guy won and the guy who lost still looked good going out. 

We get Jon Moxley in between workouts talking about how Eddie Kingston has proven to be disappointment to him and everything he once stood for.  Moxley’s presentation is so much better when the interview itself is backdropped with scenes of him in action or in a different situation.

Eddie Kingston vs. Matt Sydal is next and, of course, Kingston has something to say.  He mocks Moxley for being at home instead of in Jacksonville.  I have a cool George Washington says the champ shows up tonight.  I’m getting an odd feeling that I’ll try to go over on the post game show tonight but will probably be better served in the tip sheet.  Kingston needs to look dominant here.  I love Sydal and everything he brings, but tonight is NOT the night for him and Kingston to go 50-50. 

AEW Dark Results are shown on the screen.  This may take ½ hour of TV time.  I am begging this company to do something about Dark.  Under no circumstances should the “B” show exceed the length of the “A”.  Two-and-a-half hours of squash matches in ridiculous.  I love this company and want them to succeed, but I can’t watch 3 hours of RAW and I’m a HUGE WWE fan. At least in the 3 hours of RAW, they’re trying to give us what they perceive as top angles.  That show needs 4-5 matches and an hour, most, of run time. 

Kingston and Sydal have gone through commercial, Eddie is looking strong here, Sydal is getting some stuff in but not enough to make Kingston look weak so far.  As soon as I write that, Sydal catches fire but Eddie cuts it off and puts Sydal away with a backfist and a choke.  Kingston doesn’t let go of the choke until Sydal screams I Quit, which he immediately does.  Nice touch.

No musical numbers so far.

Split screen interview time with the Young Bucks and FTR.  Excalibur seems to give the Bucks more time and FTR walks out.  Matt Jackson declares that the Young Bucks will never challenge for the AEW World Tag Team Title again if they lose on November 7th.  Stakes just got raised.

Time for the Town Hall!  

 

The Inner Circle, sans Jake Hager (fighting tomorrow night for Belltor) & MJF come out separately.  So the gimmick here is that AEW wrestlers will be asking the questions.  Luchasaurus asks an economics based question that went way over my head.  This is pretty hokey, we have Britt Baker and Peter Avalon asking questions as well.  At least Avalon's question is if he himself can join the Inner Circle.  It's ERIC BISCHOFF.  He brings up the Kennedy inaugural speech.  At this point, they are doing nothing whatsoever to regain my trust in this angle/storyline.  Bisch, god bless him, is kind of going long here.  

Now MJF is doing the "I'm a good person" rant.  I loved him a lot pre-song and dance, and it really sounds like they're trying to regain something in the way of credibility here.  JEEZ they actually referenced last week being the greatest segment in wrestling history.  Finally, we get to the entire point of this:  Chris Jericho vs. MJF at Full Gear.  If MJF wins, he's in the Inner Circle.  Jericho lost twice, yes twice, to Orange Cassidy.  Thankfully Ortiz tries to get some semblance of credibility here.  He wants nothing to do with MJF.  Next week it's Ortiz and Sammy Guevara vs. MJF and Wardlow.

Thankfully, song and dance did not break out.

TNT Championship Lumberjack Match time.  My question here is why is this a lumberjack match?  They had a fair fight last time.  There's no hostility here as far as I know.  The first match has nothing to do with the ring not being able to control the action.  Cody is not happy with the Mighty Dark Order at ringside as lumberjacks.  Cody showing off with the pushups and Arn Anderson is not happy.  There's something there to keep an eye on.  Will it FINALLY be a Rhodes to turn on a Horseman.  So the action spills to the outside and....nothing happens.  

Cody gets caught by the Best Friends on the outside and they drop him.  He gets caught on the Dark Order side and they attack.  This is why Lumberjack Matches never resonated with me.  You've got a match and there's basically free shot of outside interference where none needs to exist.  There was a little magic going on with these two last time that doesn't exist here, I cant put my finger on it.  Is Cassidy overexposed?  Is Cody overexposed as a top guy?  

And now the lumberjacks are going at it.  Spot time where they land on all the brawling lumberjacks.  Looked nice but extremely choreographed.  Cody's having none of the sloth style.  This is odd.  Dark Order attacks Cassidy and Arn Anderson punches him as well.  Cody with the CrossRhodes for the win.  Terrible ending.  First of all, the match itself wasn't good.  Secondly, babyface champion Cody had no idea what happened.  Third, we get another "brawl" with the lumberjacks.  The time has really come for Cassidy to be shelved for a bit as the gimmick is feeling really stale after this.  And Cody?  They/He needs to decide what he's going to be because his character development is going backwards.

nd now for something different: Miro and Kip Sabian attack the Best Friends with candy.  Loaded candy?  Medicated candy?  Nope just candy.  This is creative genius of Miro?  Maybe it wasn't bad WWE writing...

I need a palate cleanser and here it is.  Serena Deeb, the NEW NWA Women's World Champion is set to defend her belt for the very first time.  The challenger is Legit Leyla Hirsch.  I cannot gush harder about how good the match last night on UWN was where Deeb defeated Thunder Rosa.  Huge upset.  Great match,  EVERYTHING you want pro wrestling to be.  If you haven't seen it, please go out of your way to do so.  It was great, and I am a HUGE Thunder Rosa fan.  Deeb's story is tailor made for a movie.  To rise, fall and rise again is an amazing story.

Leyla Hirsch came to FIGHT, she is bringing to the new champion.  This is my first exposure to her and she has a real Shayna Baszler vibe to her.  The announcers have reiterated twice that Deeb flew overnight to make this booking.  Hirsch misses a moonsault and the veteran champion nails 2 neckbreakers and a half crab submission for the tap out.  I needed something to pick me up after the last few segments and this absolutely did it.  Where does this leave Thunder Rosa?

Hikaru Shida tells Nyla Rose she'll meet her at Full Gear

Shawn Spears vs. the dreaded guy already in the ring who gets no introduction (VSK).  We're gearing up for the Spears v Scorpio Sky feud.  In the time it took me to write that last sentence, Spears got the win.  Spears throws a "fan in a mask" into the ring and whaddayaknow! It's Scorpio Sky with a TKO.  Fun little way to advance the issue they have.

Main Event time and I have to admit Omega's new entrance makes me want to punch him in the face.  That's a compliment by the way.  The sweepers are out.  It's such a cheesy number that it works for Omega as the heel who thinks he's a true of millions.  Penta el Zero finds himself here via forfeit when Rey Fenix got hurt last week.  Omega has the AAA Mega Champinship belt and mocks Penta with it.  Nice touch.  

And we kick things off with the 2 letting the other chop them.  For the life of me, I'll never comprehend that.  Finally Omega attacks before another chop.  The announcers just referred to Omega as "Okada-like".  I think/I'm pretty sure they mean that as their way of saying he's wrestling at the level he was at in NJPW from 2016-2018.  These 2 are certainly familiar with each other but I'm afraid we're in the territory on knowing exactly who is winning this.  That's not a complaint, mind you, it's just that Page vs. Penta is clearly not the road they're going down.  Penta is down and the announcers are going out of their way to point out just how much care referee Paul Turner is having for the potential injury after last week's debacle with Alex Reynolds.

So far it's been a showcase type match.  They're hitting all the check marks for what the audience is looking for.  Penta with a Canadian Destroyer on the ramp and a package piledriver for 2.  Keep kicking out of these devastating moves and they have zero meaning.  Omega finally nails the OWA for the pin and we have our tournament finals for Full Gear.

Thanks for reading.

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