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AEW DYNAMITE BLOG

It is Wednesday and AEW Dynamite is at the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, TN. Our commentary team is Excalibur, Matt Menard and Ian Riccaboni.

Will Ospreay vs Buddy Matthews

The announcers say this is a grudge match from Ospreay beating Brody King in the Continental Classic. It’s a thin reason, but if that’s what they want to go with, I guess that’s what we've got.

We’re told this is the first time these two have met, and both are great performers, so we get a great series to start with. They are presented as equals, and as the match goes on, Ospreay is selling the rings that Buddy keeps working on. This match is two big guys flying around the ring and just throwing themselves into each other until we get to the near falls. 

As the match goes on, both guys take some really stiff shots. Buddy steps up his game to match Ospreay and this is a high energy match to start off the show. I like the little details of the match, like Opsreay setting to nail Buddy with a big move as Matthews dives into the ring at 9 on a 10 count. Or how Buddy’s flurry of kicks includes stepping on Ospreay’s foot to get him to look down so he can give an uppercut for a kick.

Buddy hits a quick series of kicks and then gets a curb stomp into a two count that is almost too fast to be believed. Ospreay gets a hidden blade for the pin and the win.

Winner: Will Ospreay

These two had a great match to start the show. They worked amazingly well together and made Buddy look strong even in losing.

After the match, Ospreay calls for the crowd to cheer Buddy and then tells them they don’t need a leader and can do it by themselves. Ospreay holds out a hand and says if Buddy requires a man in his corner, Ospreay is his guy.

We then get a video package about the AEW performers at Wrestle Dynasty. 

Private Party comes to the stage and they talk about how they kept their titles in their last match, but The Hurt Syndicate interrupts them. MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley are let in through the velvet rope. MVP raises a toast to Private Party.

He then turns the toast into praising Bobby Lashley for taking the tag team title and they dump the drink into the bucket holding the champagne.

Bobby Lashley vs Mark Briscoe

Another grudge match set up by the Continental Classic, and MVP joins commentary to give his side of the story.

Lashley just tosses Briscoe around until we get to the first commercial break. Briscoe gets a flurry of offense after we come back from the break, but Lashley cuts him off quickly. Briscoe is tossed to the floor, and as MVP is praising Lashlet, Briscoe has snuck under the ring, so that when Lashley looks for him, he nails Lashley with a chair. Briscoe puts the chair in the ring and uses it to launch into Lashley on the floor. Nice twist in a match that looked like a squash.

Briscoe follows up with a Froggie Bo, but Lashley kicks out at one. Lashley follows with a spear and a choke slam. Lashley gets the Hurt Lock for the win.

Winner: Bobby Lashley

Shelton and MVP get in the ring for a post match beat down, but Private Party rush the ring with chairs to make them back off. MVP tells his team to go.

Casino Battle Royal - Once there is a pin or submission, the match is over. 

We start with Jay White and Adam Page. They start by jacking jaws, then a series of chops before they start going for quick pins. They block each other’s finishers before going to the top for White to get a super plex. 

Next entrant: Wheeler Yuta

They both go after Yuta and Page is the last man standing when the next person comes out.

Next Entrant: Ricochet

Ricochet comes out after they tease it is Swerve Strickland by starting his music before changing it. They go to commercial after he hits the ring.

Next Entrant: Adam Cole

They move to the idea that the fresh man takes people out when they hit the ring, and Cole hits Ricochet with a Panama Sunrise before the next person.

Next Entrant: Daniel Garcia

Garcia does a bit where he gives ten in the corner to about 4 guys at once. He then goes into a slam and chop fest with Yuta. Ricochet and Yuta work together to clear the ring.

Next Entrant: Powerhouse Hobbs

Hobbs tosses everyone who comes at him with a German Suplex as we go to picture in picture.

Next Entrant: Roderick Strong

After Strong's flurry we get more people in the ring, and Ricochet gets stomped down by three people and then we get people coming in to hit a finisher on the last man in the ring with Yuta cutting off White with a low blow.

Next Entrant: Lance Archer

Archer does a series of big man moves until we get Hobbs in the ring with him. The crowd pops big for this. They then toss Ricochet back and forth before going at it directly. 

Next Entrant: Kyle O’Reilly

Kyle, Strong, and Cole work together to clear the ring. 

Next Entrant: Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett is taken out by Yuta on his way to the ring, Hobbs and Archer go at each other again, and Hobbs hits a spinebuster on Kyle for the pin and the win.

Winner and facing Jon Moxley next week Powerhouse Hobbs

This match had the same flaws a lot of these matches have, people laying on the floor until their time for a spot the chief among them. But I liked how they set up Ricochet to further his character and how he is hated by the roster and other character bits.

Renee Paquette comes in the ring to interview Hobbs and Hobbs says that while Mox brought him into the company, in one week, he will make Mox his bitch. Hobbs shakes Jarrett’s hand as he heads to the back. 

Ian Riccaboni is in the ring to talk to Jarrett, before Jarrett can say anything, MJF comes to the ring. MJF tells Ian to get out of the ring and introduces himself to Jarrett. MVP talks about how the world title picture is crowded. He then does a bit mocking Jarrett’s age. He then says that Jarrett is only signed for one more year. He then says that Jarrett wanted to have a longer contract, but wrestling thinks he’s got one year left in him. 

MJF says he can help Jarrett win the title one more time, because without him, Jarrett probably can’t win a match. He only asks that he gets the first match once he helps Jarrett with the title. 

Jarrett says MJF is too young to know you learn more from your failures than successes and MJF is a one hit wonder. Jarrett says he’s been at rock bottom before, but that gives him the opportunity to fight to the top again. Jarrett says he will make the most of his one year, and he doesn’t need MJF. He ain’t buying what MJF is selling.

We get a video recap of the Death Riders attacking Darby Allin and we are told no one has heard from Darby since then.

Cope is on his way to the ring, so it looks like all of our interviews will be in the ring this week. He talks about how Jon Moxley has been taking out people while he was gone. He then says the sin Mox committed he can’t forgive is going after FTR. He says that Mox says the stars of AEW can’t take the grind, and Cope says no one has fought through what he has fought through to stand in the ring now. He says he broke his neck in a match with Eddie Geurerro and wrestled for 20 more minutes. He broke his leg in a match in a match with Malakai Black and he wrestled 10 more minutes and won the match.

He asks Mox what can be done to him that hasn’t been done before. 

This brings the Death Riders out from the crowd. They are attacked by FTR as they get to the ringside area and all six men brawl around the ring. Cope is grabbed by Marina Shafir and as he is dealing with her, Pac attacks him from behind with the briefcase. The Death Riders are able to regroup in the ring as Mox chokes out Cope. They grab a plastic bag and we get Powerhouse Hobbs’s music and he stalks his way to the ring.

This allows FTR to regroup and the Death Riders bail as Hobbs makes it to the ring.

We get a pre-taped promo from Mariah May who says there is going to be a Women’s Casino Battle Royal, and Harley Cameron interrupts and says they should have a Hot Girl Match. May agrees and says she will beat Harley, but Harley mumbles she will feel the wrath and May makes her say it to her face.

Harley Cameron makes me so happy every time she is on-screen. She’s really come into her own with Saraya gone. 

Toni Storm vs Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale - Winner is first in the Casino Battle Royal

This is a fast-paced match with a LOT of quick near falls. We get a long sequence of Willow and Kris since Kris has said she wants to redeem herself for turning on Willow. Toni keeps getting tossed out when she tries to get involved until Willow on Kris on doing mat work. After that bit, we get a lot of all three women working in the ring at the same time. Lots of complex chain reaction moves that involve all three. 

From there, we get them cutting off each other’s finishers until Willow gets a cannonball in the corner with Storm and Kris taking it. Willow is able to hit a German suplex on Kris and Toni at the same time. Kris is able to win with the Staturday Night Fever pile driver on Storm for the pin and the win.

Winner: Kris Statlander

In the back, Renee is with Toni Storm who says that she just wasn’t ready and is too inexperienced for a match like she just went through yet. 

Kenny Omega comes out to his new music, which is composed by the same man who composes music for the Final Fantasy games. He’s in street clothes and asks for a mic. He goes over his illness from last year and he didn’t know if he would ever wrestle again. He talks about how long the rehab lasted and how hard it was, nearly giving up more than once. 

He says that he found his purpose in Japan over the weekend just like he found it again tonight. If he isn’t in the ring doing his best, he’s not living. He says he isn’t concerned about money, power, or revenge and he’s interrupted by Don Callis’s Chord Of Doom.

Callis slowly walks to the ring and stops on the ramp. Before he can say anything, Omega bails from the ring and attacks him. Archer and Brian Cage stop him and drag him to the ring and Omega fights back. Kyle Fletcher joins them as they start the beat down. Cage gives Omega a big punch right to Omega’s midsection. 

Will Ospreay’s music hits and he runs to the ring with a chair to drive the Don Callis Family off. Ospreay drops the chair and the crowd chants Holy S#!t. They stand face to face as we are desperately out of time. 

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