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COMPLETE AEW DYNAMITE BLOG

It is Wednesday and this week, AEW Dynamite is at the NOW Arena in Chicago, IL.  The commentary team is Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Taz.

We start with a video package of what happened at All In.  Still impressive and the package made it look that way.

Jon Moxley vs Komander

The announcers put over that Koamnder is coming for revenge for Mox injuring Rey Fenix last week, but Komander comes into the match with a feeling that he’s not on Mox’s level, since he loses most of his matches. Still, the match last week with Mox and Rey was one of Mom's best in a while, so if they can pull off the same high flier vs brawler as last week it can work.

When they come back from commercial to full screen, Mox is bleeding because of course he is. Komander gets a flurry of offense when they return from the ad break, but itt doesn’t last long and Mox wins via an arm bar. 

Winner: Jon Moxley

Odd match to start with, especially when they have a pay per view to get set up for the weekend.

Orange Cassidy says he isn’t going to take a break and he’s not the same man he was before the Stadium Stampede.

We get a video of the Young Bucks and FTR talking in the back after their match, and Bullet Club Gold show up to set up a 8 man tag between the two groups. And while Cardboard Jay White didn’t make an appearance at All In, he is here wrapped in bubble wrap.

We get a recap of Saraya winning the women’s title at All In.

In the back, Renee Paquette is with Toni Storm who looks utterly devastated. She has a meltdown and says she can’t trust anyone…and leaves the area, and then throws a shoe at Renee.  I love her new character.

It’s now Jericho Time, and he also looks devastated, but I doubt he’ll be throwing a shoe. He apologizes to Sammy for how he treated him after his match at All In, and calls for him to join him.  He shows the video from the match and says he knows Sammy did everything he could to help him with and holds out a hand, and they shake hands.  Jericho says he keeps replaying the match with Will Ospreay and throws in the maybe Sammy should have hit him harder with the baseball bat.

Sammy then says that Jericho could have hit him harder with the Judas Effect. And things start to break down from there. Slowly they become more insulting to each other in their back and forth. Jericho says they should work as a tag team to become the tag team champions starting next week.  They hug and leave together.

I don’t know, since Jericho’s jacket looked like it was made of broke glass, mI half expected him to throw Sammy through it. 

We go to Mox in the back who says he will be going for the International Championship. He isn’t for the bark, but whoever has that tile when they leave Chicago will be the one with the biggest bite.

Eddie Kingston (New Japan Strong Openweight Champion) vs Wheeler Yuta

This starts as a brawl, but the match turns into Yuta working over Eddie’s injured elbow and Eddie trying to fight back and recover from those attacks. They fight through a commercial break and the brawl picks up the pace when they return to full screen. Most of it does a good job of building, but there is a bit where Yuta does his slingshot where he looks like he’s going to the floor but instead shoots back at Eddie that doesn’t look good at all. 

The match ends when Eddie hits a back elbow and Yuta calls for another, and that one knocks Yuta down for the count and Eddie covers for the pin and the win.

Winner and still New Japan Strong Openweight Champion: Eddie Kingston

Claudio Castagnoli shows up to walk Yuta to the back, but doesn’t even look at Eddie. 

I like the idea of Eddie working through the Blackpool Combat club, but Yuta never came off as having a chance, and with a PPV this weekend, they should have used the time to set up a match there. 

We then get a recording of MJF and Cole after their match and MJF is exhausted after working more than he has in months. Cute way of explaining why MJF isn’t on the show tonight.

Sammy is with Renee and he says they are back on the same page, and Don Calli shows and says it is hard to be Jericho’s friend. Sammy tells him to shut up and leave.

Adam Cole is on his way to the ring for Story Time. He says that MJF is not in great shape, but this weekend, he will be ready to defend their Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles.

Roderick Strong, his Bobby Heenan neck brace, and The Kingdom show up and he asks if Cole even cares about his neck. Mike Bennett talks about how they got signed together at Ring of Honor, and then Cole turned on him. Bennett goes full heel, saying Chicago is the worst city to wrestle in and that Cole cares about what the fans think of him. Matt Taven then says when he needed them, he was with the Kingdom, but he dumped them to join Bullet Club. Taven says Cole is a leech who attaches to whoever will give him a title.

Roddy says he will enter the tournament and win MJF’s title. Cole says Roddy isn’t healed enough to wrestle, and Roddy says he’s gonna win the tournament. 

We then get a promo from Penta who says his match with Orange Cassidy is just business, but he needs to get revenge against Jon Moxley.

Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida and Britt Baker vs Nyla Rose, Marina Shafir, and Emi Sakura

Weird show in that we haven’t had a match yet where there is even a doubt as to who will win each match. I love Nyla, but they haven’t let her get a major win in ages, and they don't let her be as funny as she is on Twitter or in her interviews and appearances. Sakura and Shafir haven’t won a match in ages. These matches all feel like background to the stories they are moving forward, which I shouldn't mind, but I can’t remember a past AEW show where the wrestling meant so little.

Statlander and Shida have trouble working together and Statlander hits Shafir with the Wednesday night fever for the pin and the win.

Winners:  Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida and Britt Baker

After the match, Ruby Soho hits the ring, hits Statlander with a No Future and steals the TBS Title from her for their match on All Out.

We get a video from Shane Taylor, who is taking on Samoa Joe for the Ring of Honor TV Title at All Out.

We then get a video from Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita. They go over all of Kenny Omega’s many injuries over the years. Callis pushes the Blue Thunder Bomb which has never, ever won a match in any promotion.

The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn hit the ring to celebrate their winning the Trio Championship at All In. Billy Gunn says that Daddy Ass is back. Max is up next saying they will start off their title run with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Billy Gunn pulls out huge scissors to cut the ribbon. Bowens says it’s their house now, and now it is the House of Ass.

Bowens then shows the new Trios championships which are PINK. 

The Main Event:

Orange Cassidy (AEW International Champion) vs Penta w/Alex Abrahantes

This main event could be awesome, and I hope it is, since the show has just felt like a house show from the mid 90’s.

After the posturing to open the match they have a fast paced series of moves with running the ropes. Penta catches Cassidy when he dives and gorilla presses him into the barricade. They battle through the commercial and both of these guys are working hard to get the crowd excited. Lots of high spots and Cassidy doing his gimmick stuff to pop the crowd. 

They have the match go through two commercial breaks. When they come back from the second break, Pentas is focusing on the Orange Punch arm, and we move to finishing sequences.  They do a sequence where they give each other destroyers, and the effects are delayed.  Silly and unreal but the crowd loved it and they finally come alive. 

Penta goes back to working the arm and they move to fighting on the apron.  You could actually hear someone in the crowd yell “That’s the hardest part of the ring.” Cassidy is able to steal the win with a surprise crucifix roll up for the pin and the win.

Winner and still AEW International Champion: Orange Cassidy

Cassidy calls for a mic and a chair. He says he is tired, his body hurts, and every time he has a title defense, the backpack gets a little heavier. He says he is still here because this title means everything to him. He then gives an AEW Rah Rah speech that has a double meaning. 

I do like that he ends it with “I am Orange Cassidy, and I do not have a catch phrase.” 

Mox comes to the ring and they go face to face and we are desperately out of time!

 

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