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COMPLETE AEW DYNAMITE BLOG

It is Wednesday and it’s time for AEW Dynamite from the MVP Arena in Albany, NY.  Our commentary team is Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz, and William Regal.

Jon Moxley vs Sammy Guevara in the AEW World Championship Tournament

No Tay Conti with Sammy tonight? Guess all he needs to do is face Mox to be a heel for this crowd.  

They start with mat wrestling and they move quickly to brawling in the corner where Sammy has the upper hand, but when it moves to fighting in the middle of the ring, Mox is strong. Sammy is able to turn the tide with leaps out of the ring and beating Mox down outside the ring. Sammy even gets to dominate Mox through the ads.  

When we go back to full screen, Mox gets a huge DDT on the apron, which is the hardest part of the ring don’t you know. Mox then just takes over and Regal talks about how much Mox likes to hurt people. Sammy gets a quick flurry of offense with his two rope cutter and then picks up Mox for the GTH, and Mox turns it into the bulldog choke. Mox hits the Hammer and anvil elbows. I love that everyone in the Blackpool Combat Club uses that move now.  Sammy gets a surprise Spanish Fly for a two count.

I like the move, but the Hammer and Anvil elbows should preclude the finisher in most cases. They have a superplex off the top and it’s time for Anny Jay AS and Tay Conti to interfere as Anna distracts and Tay hits a low blow so Sammy can get a two count. After a pair of two counts for each guy, Mox calls for Sammy to attack, and Mox takes the attack, gets out of a GTH and hits the Death Rider for the win.

Winner and moving on: Jon Moxley

An OK TV match, nothing special, and the right guy won. There are times when it is OK for a match to just hit all of the standard notes and get to the ending. 

MJF is in the back demanding a mic.

He comes to the ring and tells them to cut hsi music.  He also tells everyone in Albany to shut up, which always works. He delivers his promo to Moxley and is back to the old MJF.  This promo is him stepping up for a title shot. He then talks about the Stokely Hathway stable, and that Stokely has been his friend since he was 19. Stokely’s group is called “The Firm."

Stokely grabs the mix and cuts a promo about how he put the group together for MJF. Hathaway explains they will work together when they need to, and he’s not a publicist, he’s a friend with connections. This is an old school “Heel explains his plan” promo, which is something that AEW has NEEDED for their storylines. He goes through W. Morrissey, The Gunns, Ethan Page, and Lee Moriarty and explains their goals and what they are going to be doing.

We have been asking AEW to introduce people and give motivation, and this is exactly what this segment was.

We then get a promo with Jungle Boy talking about his open challenge, and Jay Lethal accepted it.

Jungle Boy vs Jay Lethal

The crowd has died down a bit for JB, and I hope they are able to build him back up to where he was a few months ago.  Jay Lethal has done nothing but put on great matches since he got to AEW.

Jay starts the match being condescending to JB and they quickly move to trading blows. After JB gets in his big, crowd pleasing stuff, Jay goes to the outside, and when JB goes for the tope, Satnam Singh stands in the way.  When JB goes to the top, Sonjay interferes and Lethal takes advantage to turn the tide as we go to the picture in picture.

Lethal has spent the break working on JB’s taped up lower back. When they trade blows, JB is able to gain an advantage. When they move to the turnbuckle, Lethal gets a Russian Leg Sweep off the second buckle for a two count. JB tries for the Killswitch to send a message to Christian Cage, but Lethal gets the Lethal combination, a tope and an elbow off the top. JB is able to fight back, puts on the snare trap, and Lethal is able to get out as Dutt gets on the paron. JB locks it on again and Lethal has to tap out.

Winner: Jungle Boy

Good match for Jungle Boy to start to rebuild him and Lethal is just so good at this sort of thing.

We get a training session of Hook and Action Bronson.

Luigi Primo, who has a pizza maker gimmick and talks like Mario from video games.  He is supposed to get an interview segment, but Ethan Page takes him out.  Danhausen shows, and Ethan says he will take him on Friday on Rampage. 

We then get a clip of Darby Allin on Nitro Circus, and we then see Matt Hardy talking about how respect him, and he is challenging Darby to a match on Rampage.

Powerhouse Hobbs vs Matt DiMartino already in the ring

Matt takes a spinebuster and we are moving on.

Winner: Powerhouse Hobbs

Hobbs threatens Ricky Starks who comes down from the crowd and walks to the ring. Starks attacks and smashes Hobbs with the mic and drives Hobbs from the ring.

Swerve in Our Glory (AEW Tag Team Champions) vs. Lucha Brothers

Swerve grabbing Penta’s hand and flipping him when Penta does his “Hand in the face” thing made me happy.  Since he always does it, people SHOULD be finding a way to use it against him. Swerve and Ray Fenix in the ring means we’re getting high flying car crash, but we don’t get it until Keith Lee tags in and we go to picture in picture.

Keith Lee looking on as Swerve does his stuff in bemusement is gold to me. 

We come back to Rey and Swerve for a bit, then Penta comes in for his spotlight. Rey leaps onto Lee, and Lee catches him and then tosses him into Penta to break up a cover.

This quickly moves to all four men in the ring as Rey gets a springboard Spanish Fly on Swerve and Penta hits Keith Lee with a destroyer.  Impressive looking move and a show stopper. Rey and Penta were set up for a finisher, but Swerve knocks Rey off the top, and Lee slams Penta for the pin and the win.

Winners and still AEW Tag Team Champions: Swerve in Our Glory

The Acclaimed come out and cut their music and say how they will beat Swerve in Our Glory for the title next week.

We then get an interview with Pac in the back who says that Alex Marez needs to respect him. He walks into a kick from Orange Cassidy who says Pac won’t be a double champ for long. 

We get a promo from Toni Storm and Athena for their match with Britt Baker and Serena Deeb tonight, as Baker took out Hikaru Shida on Dark earlier this week.

Toni Storm and Athena vs Britt Baker and Serena Deeb

The announcers put over that Baker hasn’t spoken to Jamie Hayter since the match last week. 

Deeb and Storm start out the match and they work stiff. Athena tags in and she dominates until Deeb gets a chop block before the picture in picture. Deeb’s stuff always looks great. When we get back from break, we get Storm and Baker and then Deeb and Athena.  Athena is able to get in some mat work before Storm tags in. 

We get all four in the ring until Athena is taken out by a toss into the steel steps.  As Rebel distracts the ref, Toni Storm is driven into a chair and Deeb.

Winners: Britt Baker and Serena Deeb

Each section was good, but somehow it didn’t quite gel as a complete match, just a series of sections. This match needed to spotlight the new Champion Toni Storm, and she got in some good work, but it wasn’t as good as the individual sections. 

Jamie Hayter runs to the ring to break up the after match beat down…or does she.  She takes a chair to Toni Storm and she leaves without talking to Baker. So, we’re going to have that be ambiguous.

Excalibur and Tony Schiavone run down the cards for the next two shows.

Chris Jericho vs Bryan Danielson in the AEW World Title Tournament

Bryan comes out attacking Jericho out of the gate, chops, kicks and leaping attacks in the corner.  Jericho weathers the storm and moves to running the ropes as we see Daniel Garcia is watching this in the back. They brawl on the outside and Bryan starts with attacks from the top turnbuckle. A different match from their All Out match where Bryan is just dominating Jericho. 

As the match moves to Jericho starting to fight back, Bryan just acts annoyed and keeps up giving as good as he takes. Bryan is fast through this section, and Jericho looks slow and tired as it moves to picture in picture.

We come back and Jericho gets a hurricanrana off the top, but Bryan is able to take over quickly, and the story of the match is that Bryan just has Jericho outmatched. Even when Jericho tries to hammer and anvil ebows, Bryan is able to shrug them off. 

As they are fighting in the ropes, Jericho hits a backdrop on Bryan and Byran has rolled his ankle.  As the doctors are working on Bryan, Jericho pulls off Bryan’s shoe and kick pad and then goes to work on him, wrapping his leg around the ring post.  Jwericho keeps up the attack with a chop block and then a knee breaker. Jericho goes for a second knee breaker, and Bryan fights his way free.

Bryan tries for a knee strike, but Jericho grabs him and locks in the Walls of Jericho. Jericho transitions it to a heel lock. Bryan stays in it a long time before starting to crawl for the ropes. Jericho switches it to a spinning toe hold and Bryan kicks him off and rolls him up for a two count. Jericho then locks in a figure four.  Nice way to switch up the start of the match where it really felt like Bryan would roll over Jericho. 

Bryan is able to reverse it and put on the crossface after pummeling Jericho with blows. Jericho has to tap out.

Winner and moving on in the AEW World Title Tournament: Bryan Danielson

So next week, it’s Mox vs Bryan, and it’s a Blackpool Combat Club fight. Should be a hell of a match.

The come face to face in the middle of the ring and shake hands. 

 

 

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