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COMPLETE AEW DYNAMITE BLOG

We are back (again) at Dailey's place in Jacksonville, FL.  Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur welcome us to tonight's edition of Dynamite, where we'll be seeing the first ever "Parley".  I remember that time Flair and Dusty sat down and hashed out all the rules for WarGames,  If there's any justice in the world, JJ Dillon will be the official coin flipper.

Adam Page and Brian Cage are kicking things off and, my oh my, Team Taz jumps Page on his way to the ring and, get this, actually look effective for about 10-11 seconds until Dark Order (you guessed it) run them off.  In case you're wondering, Page is in week 4 of his #1 contendership for the AEW world title.  They either have to give him his shot OR have him lose and drop the contendership.  I appreciate AEW giving us weekly ranking and wrestlers records, but there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to when these contenders get their shots. Taz has joined the booth.  He is absolutely great on the stick.

Cage is looking pretty dominant, easily catching Page on an over the top dive.  Drill Claw and BRIAN CAGE IS YOUR WINNER!  Huge moment for him.  Clean as a whistle.  It wasn't time for Page to be in the world title hunt. He needed a big loss to get him out of the hunt and Brian Cage desperately needed a big win to get his AEW career on the right track.  Cage looked like a monster and Page loses zero credibility.  The right guy won and I never thought in a million years that AEW would do it. Props to them.

What constitutes The Elite is gathered in a long stretch limo. I've watched enough wrestling in my day to know something bad is going to happen to it before long.  Michael Nakazawa accidentally honks the horn, scaring everyone in the limo.  It'll be Nakazawa vs. Eddie Kingston later tonight.  At least it'll be quick (I hope).

Title eliminator time as the Sydal Brothers take on The Young Bucks.  Don Callis accompanies the Bucks and joins the booth.  Matt and Nick Jackson look so much more comfortable as a-hole heels. As an ROH fan, I got to see a lot of their work in person and up close. They are just so much more comfortable as heels.  Even when they were fan favorites, the "jerk" side of them couldn't help but come out which, to me, made them really unlikeable.  

Brandon Cutler is shining Matt Jackson's boots as he's on the apron.  I can't like that more if I tried.  Bucks pull the switcheroo, Mike Knox realizes it and does....nothing.  Literally admonishes him and Matt laughs at him but Knox does nothing.  The twist I'd like to see now is Matt Jackson getting pinned but getting it restarted as he STILL isn't the legal man.  No matter, a BTE trigger puts Mike Sydal away.

Here comes SCU (remember them?  They've been number one contenders for, like 2 -3 months).  They've staked their claim for a match.

 

Jade Cargill reminds us that every manager wants her.  Given the complete lack of success of every long term AEW manager (except maybe Tully Blanchard), I can't implore her more to avoid that pitfal.

Orange Cassidy with Trent? takes on Penta El Zero next with Alex Abrahantes.  Penta came out the babyface tunnel.  AEW doesn't generally make errors like that so I can't help but think there's something there.  Penta prevents Cassidy from doing the pockets spot, which makes him Jim Cornette's favorite modern day wrestler.  Anyway, Cassidy is able to do it eventually.  Penta catches Cassidy's tope suicida attempt in a press slam position.  That's something I've honestly never seen before.  These two actually work well together, Alex Abrahantes gives Penta a little more personality and Cassidy's offense looks unorthodox enough.  I can't figure out why Cassidy's run at the top got halted.  When you're feuding with Jericho for months on end and ultimately win the final match (albeit the Mimosa Mayhem), that should make you a "made-man" of sorts.  Seems like Cassidy had his run and then went back to the middle where he was. We're in match #2 and AEW is going wrestling heavy to kick things off.  These guys are getting time.  Makes me think the Parlay will be a pretty significant segment later on.

Alex has the mic and starts running down Cassidy. I like the visual and Alex is great as the right hand.  As a Hype-man, however, he needs some real seasoning.  Alex's distraction backfires as Cassidy uses his microphone to nail the Orange Punch for the win.

Tony Schiavone with Dr. Britt Baker and Reba (REBEL).  Time to remind Hikaru Shida who's the face of the women's division.

Now Tony's in the ring for the Parlay and the brings out the Pinnacle first (accompanied by a LOT of security).  The Inner circle's security comes out on motorcycles.  We've got a good old fashioned face off. Shawn Spears doesn't want a coin toss, saying the Pinnacle deserves the one man advantage.  Sammy reminds Spears about what a failure he's been in AEW and "the place he used to work". Guevara GIVES the Pinnacle the man advantage and will start off for the Inner Circle.  That makes very little sense. FTR and Santana/Ortiz verbally spar.  I'm guessing Wardlow and Hager square off next.  I'm wrong, MJF takes over.  MJF puts over what Jericho has done for AEW.  He talks about how tired Le Champion looks. He's gonna do Jericho a solid next week and let Jericho retire in peace.  As a reward for what Jericho has done, next week he'll stand over Jericho's lifeless body and say "thank you".

Jericho, fired up, reminds MJF about who he is and what he had to do to be THE guy in AEW. Jericho points out the Inner Circle has been family since Day 1 of AEW.  This is the fired up promo Jericho needed from week one of this feud. He didn't pander. He didn't apologize.  They threw reality and passion out there.  And, in a complete break from what wrestling normally is, there was fisticuffs. THAT's unusual.

We’re only half way through and we got a LOT of wrestling left.  And….here’s Michael Nakazawa in the ring.  Thankfully for all of us Eddie Kingston has a mic.  He steadfastly refuses to face someone like Nakazawa. Omega causes a distraction and Nakazawa attacks. This will not end well for Michael.  It doesn’t. He’s unconscious within 20 seconds.  Eddie threatens to break Nakazawa’s ankle if Omega doesn’t get in the ring.  Moxley attacks the champ, gets him in the ring and puts him to sleep.  Callis agrees to a tag match with Moxley and Kingston to spare the champ’s ankle.  Nkazawa will be Omega’s partner next week.  Omega gets better and better as the 3 piece suit wearing champion.

Commercial time and Sammy Guevara brings back his card gimmick.  Basically he’s putting over Blood and Guts.  Kid has got some serious star power.  I predict he’s going to the next level starting nextr week.

 

Taz is with Schiavone. So odd to see Team Taz in triumph.  Christian Cage interrupts him.  Cage PUTS OVER Team Taz, calling them the best prospects in wrestling.  Looks like Starks vs. Cage next week.

Women’s action time as Penelope Ford with Kip Sabian takes on the Galaxy’s Favorite Alien, Kris Statlander with Orange Cassidy.  There’s a ton (well, maybe 250 pounds) of upside in that ring right now.  I see Ford as the star of the Kip duo.  She actually has her hair done in sort of cornrows, the way a UFC fighter would.  Just a little touch of added credibility as far as I’m concerned.  Ford’s not there and Statlander is seen as the bigger star.  I’ve got Kris winning here.  Oftentimes I complain about how the AEW matches tend to be too much 50-50, back and forth when, in reality, one of the 2 ought to dominate.  This right here is the perfect opportunity for both to shine in a real competitive match.

They’ve fought all the way through commercial and when we come back, they’re slugging it out on their knees. These 2 are having a heck of a match.  This AEW Women’s division is really coming together.  Statlander gets the win.  I think my only gripe, and it’s a minor one, is that I wish there hadn’t been a commercial break in this one.  The length wasn’t too long.  I kind of feel like they could have timed the show a little better to give them the spotlight.

 

Nice little promo from Preston 10 Vance

Billy of the Gunn Club (called Billy Gunn by Excalibur), Lee Johnson and Dustin Rhodes against QT Marshall, Nick Comorato and Aaron Solow is up next.  QT and Company appear to have hijacked Cody’s bus.  Justin Roberts announced him as Billy Gunn so, maybe, the rights to the name issue has been settled.  I’ve quickly become a fan of the guys QT took with him in the Nightmare Family Split.  I love Ogogo and Comorato.  I do wish the announcers wouldn’t make the cracks about QT’s star power.  Is the world title material?  No, but I think they’d be better served talking about how smartb he is, or what an accomplished technician he is. Just as I say that, JR puts over how layered he is.  Ogogo from the outside with a body shot and QT gets the pin.  Ask Oscar de la Hoya how effective a body punch is. 

The rest of QTs guys go to the back and the rest of the Gunn Club attack QT.  The Factory guys come back and QT heads for the bus.  I bet Cody is now on that bus.  Yep!  He goes to work on QT.  Kind of ends abruptly.  No it doesn’t.  QT just had to make his way to the top of the tour bus.   Cody follows and beats him down.  Tony Khan quickly sanctions a match for next week. 

HUGE announcement!  Jon Moxley will defend the IWGP US Title against Yuji Nagata on the May 12th episode of Dynamite.  That is very interesting from an AEW/New Japan relationship aspect.

Kip Sabian confronts Miro backstage.  Yeah that doesn’t go well.  Miro beats the ever loving crap out of him and slams the locker room door on Kip’s hand.  He then hugs Kip and forgives him.

Darby Allin vs. 10 is your main event.  We’ve got a lot a time left so we’re either getting a long match or a big angle tonight.  They’ve been putting over 10 as being handpicked by Brodie Lee.  Good spot here for Mr. Vance.  Notice how many main events Allin is getting lately.  He’s been handled so well as building him up as a big star.  10 needs a good showing here.  He’s not winning, that’s obvious, but a great showing brings him further and further up the ladder.

Darby is the perfect opponent here.  He bounces around for 10’s offense like it’s devastating.  For the record, Sting is with Darby but, honestly, I don’t think at this point Darby needs this particular “rub”.  It’s almost like Sting hands around Darby to stay relevant.  Guys, I’ll be honest, this is four in a row as far as strong AEW Dynamite shows, as far as I’m concerned.

Darby’s going into the deep water, pulling submissions out of his you-know-what.  Solid match here as Allin takes out 5 and 10 on the outside.  Now, Ethan Page attacks Allin out of view of Rick Knox, whi was handling a Sting-Dark Order confrontation.  10’s got a full nelson on and Darby has to push off the ropes to roll him up for the pin and retain the title.  As a Dark Order fan, I can’t complain about jpw much they gave the challenger here tonight.  Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky attack Darby and Sting and Lance Archer makes the save along with 10 as we go off the air.

Solid outing.  Thanks for reading.

 

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