A Quick Review of AEW Dynamite 9/30/20

PUNCTUATION NOTE: Okay, I think putting parentheses around the seconds of competitors makes things look less confusing. Let’s do that from now on.

• Darby Allin defeated Ricky Starks via Coffin Drop

Taz did not accompany Starks because he was on commentary, taking Tony Schiavone’s place (we found out why later). This was a good opener, I thought, but I was surprised that it was the opener once I saw the finish. Darby winning clean seems like an end to the feud, so one would think it would be higher on the card. However, surely there’s more to come, especially since Brian Cage and Will Hobbs got into it in the middle of the match. Hobbs hasn’t gotten to actually have a match as part of the feud, so there’s got to be more to come.

• FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) successfully defended the AEW Tag Team Championships against SCU (w/ Christopher Daniels) via Blanchard-assisted pinfall

I thought this would go the full time limit so as to put over the gimmick where FTR gets a win through a draw, but I guess that will happen later. The match was very good, but that should be no surprise. FTR are very clever villains. They found a way to get Daniels ejected from ringside, which made Tully’s interference at the end easier. They always seem to pull something crafty like that out.

Adam Page was on commentary to further his angle with Kenny Omega, and he was fairly sloshed, which was effective. Very slow burn to wherever they’re going with him. 

Oh, and it looks like Shawn Spears is doing something with Scorpio Sky. This was made clear on Dark, but I think this was the first time it was shown on Dynamite. I’m glad that Spears isn’t totally an afterthought now that Tully is with FTR. I kind of thought he’d get dropped. Interesting that the they’ve hardly interacted with him, though. I guess they’re not really a stable, just two sets of Tully’s clients.

• Chris Jericho (w/ the Inner Circle) defeated Isiah Kassidy (w/ Marq Quen and Matt Hardy) via Judas Effect Elbow

This was good. I didn’t really pay close attention, honestly, but what I saw was good. I think the bigger story was Luther and Jericho getting into it at ringside. Luther is one of Jericho’s friends from when he was just starting to wrestle, so it makes sense they would be working together with Jericho’s 30 year anniversary in wrestling coming up. Then a bunch of other people at ringside got involved, which I guess was an excuse for Nyla Rose to do something. 

I thought it was kind of silly for the Inner Circle to run away from an injured Matt Hardy just because he had a chair. He was obviously limping.

• Orange Cassidy (w/ Best Friends) defeated 10 (w/ John Silver, 5, and Colt Cabana) via Beach Break

Of course it was good. And there wasn’t much of Cassidy’s schtick to be had, either. But nothing really noteworthy happened, so this could just as well have been a Dark match.

• Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., defeated Red Velvet via Curb Stomp

Welcome back, Britt. The women’s division needed you. I was surprised this was just a match (with a submission hold applied afterwards for emphasis). There was no angle to set Baker up in a program with someone else. I half expected Big Swole to do something to build to a real match between the two. She hasn’t been seen since the last pay-per-view, though, so she might’ve gotten the virus or something. Anyway, I wouldn’t stick Baker with Shida immediately, but that could be something to look forward to.

• Jon Moxley successfully defended the AEW World Champion against the Butcher via Bulldog Choke

Butcher was a bit of a letdown as far as mystery challengers go. I don’t think he’d even had a singles match in AEW before this. He is a big, tough-looking guy, but he doesn’t really have the resume to justify any thought of him upsetting Moxley. I don’t know if they were trying to “make” him here, but I didn’t get the sense that his stock raised all that much. He did well enough, but I didn’t feel like he had a breakout performance or anything. Still, seeing him come up from behind Moxley was a better visual than if it had been the Blade just due to his size alone.

I don’t know what the endgame is for the Eddie Kingston feud. Obviously, if Lance Archer hadn’t gotten the virus, these last couple of weeks would have focused on building him up to challenge Moxley on the 14th. The stuff with Kingston has been all right in the interim, but I hope it doesn’t damper a potentially bigger feud between the two in the future. I do wonder if Kingston will get involved in the Archer/Moxley match.

Aside from the matches, Cody accepted Brodie Lee’s challenge for a Dog Collar Match, but he took his time and tried to swerve everyone before getting to it. I thought the brawl between Cody and Lee was effective, but I thought that the way Cody built to it was a little Triple H-like. He had a drawn out entrance (using that same intro he used last week before his theme song), and he talked a lot before getting to the meat of the segment. He didn’t talk as much as Triple H usually does, thankfully, but I felt like it was trending in the wrong direction.

FTR were interviewed by Tony Schiavone, leading to Matt Jackson finally superkicking Tony. This has gotten way out of hand. Surely AEW has a system in place where punishments are ramped up for repeat offenses? The Young Buck have superkicked three non-wrestler staff members in the last four weeks, as well as maliciously breaking Tony’s phone. Imposing a fine is acceptable for one offense, but they should have been suspended after the second one, and they should’ve been fired by now, EVPs or not. Tony Khan needs to get his house in order. 

There’s going to be a tournament to decide the #1 contender for the World Title, and Jungle Boy, Rey Fenix, and Kenny Omega will be in it. I like tournaments, so I’m ready.

It seems that Miro’s pairing with Kip Sabian is polarizing fans, and I can kind of see both sides. I would prefer Miro be more serious, but I’m guessing this is what he wants to do. (In retrospect, I think his match last week was actually bad after all, but there was an injury involved.) Anyway, I’m still waiting to see where it all goes. Having Billy Mitchell do a cameo is quite a niche bit. I only recognized him because I’d seen The King of Kong several years ago.

MJF gave the Inner Circle T-shirts to suck up to Jericho, but he won’t admit that he wants to join. Interesting continuing storyline with MJF and Jericho. I could see them becoming a team and ultimately breaking up like Jericho and Kevin Owens did. Jericho would probably have to be the babyface then. I’m not going to put money on any of that happening, but I wouldn’t be against it.

FTR vs. Best Friends should be very good whenever it comes.

Next week, we get Chris Jericho and Jake Hager vs. Luther and Serpentico as part of Jericho’s 30 year anniversary in wrestling, Brian Cage vs. Will Hobbs for the FTW Championship, and Brodie Lee vs. Cody in a Dog Collar Match for the TNT Championship.

A Quick Review of AEW Dynamite 9/23/20

The CCP Virus strikes again. As I was trying to avoid spoilers for Dark and Late Night Dynamite on Wednesday, I missed the news that Lance Archer had been around people who had the virus, so the planned main event of Archer, Brian Cage, and Ricky Starks vs. Jon Moxley, Will Hobbs, and Darby Allin had to be scrapped. In its place, we got Moxley defending the AEW World Championship against the man who was never truly eliminated from the Casino Battle Royale, Eddie Kingston.

• Kip Sabian and “The Best Man” Miro w/ Penelope Ford defeated Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss via Game Over Camel Clutch on Kiss

Miro looked pretty good. Kiss looked pretty good. Would’ve been more of a showcase if Miro would’ve beaten either Janela or Kiss in a singles match, or if he would’ve been the one doing most of the work in the ring. Instead, they seemed to want to save him for special spots. He also may have gotten legitimately hurt going out of the ring at one point. There were a couple of near-botches that soured things, but I don’t think either was Miro’s fault. The best part, I thought, was when Janela made the hot tag and hit both Sabian and Miro, but instead of falling off the apron, Miro just got mad and came after him. Anyway, it was fine, but far from the best of any of these guys.

• “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Evil Uno via Buckshot Lariat

Similar to last week, including Kenny Omega on commentary. Omega seemed a little more positive about Page this time, but he still insisted he’s a singles guy now and wouldn’t acknowledge Page to his face. They’ve gotta have a match at some point. Anyway, this was shorter and less in doubt than the Kazarian match, but Uno’s pretty good. I’ve known that for a while

• TNT Champion Brodie Lee successfully defended against Orange Cassidy via Discus Lariat

My HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT. I think they did a good job of keeping both Cassidy and Lee strong witout diminishing either. Lee didn’t fall for Cassidy’s regular tricks, but Cassidy was able to bait him by feigning exhaustion later. He also had to fight off the Dark Order a couple times, especially John Silver. Silver came in and took an Orange Punch for Lee, meaning that Lee didn’t have to kick out after it, so that protected Orange’s finisher. Silver was also abused by Lee once or twice, too.

After the match, the lights went out, and some familiar music led to the return of Cody Rhodes. I like that he ditched the bleached blonde hair; I was actually just wondering the other day when he would do that. He also had a nice, dark suit. He attacked a Dark Order guy’s leg and put him in the Figure Four, but he couldn’t get his hands on Lee. I’m curious to see if this darker Cody will turn heel after he’s done feuding with Lee.

Then after the break, Lee cut an angry promo on Cody and essentially challenged him to a Dog Collar Match. Surely that will be for the anniversary show, if not the next PPV.

• Thunder Rosa and Hikaru Shida defeated Ivelisse and Diamante via Tamashii to Diamante

Ivelisse and Diamante had some good moments, but they also looked a little off. Actually, I think there’s been at least one point in each of their matches where they’ve seemed off. This time, just as commentary was talking about how well gelled they are, they proceeded to be unable to do a double kick at the same time. Shida and Rosa worked very well as a team, however. Nothing big came from this match, as the babyfaces won and held up their arms, and that was that.

• AEW World Champion Jon Moxley successfully defended against Eddie Kingston via Bulldog Choke

They beat each other up. Who would have expected that? It’s kind of a bummer that this match had to happen so soon, but their hands were kind of tied with Archer having to pull out of the scheduled six-man at the last minute. In all reality, though, I feel like it wouldn’t take much to heat up a pay-per-view rematch, even with the clean finish here. Moxley won without even going for the Pradigm Shift yet again (as far as I could tell), so it’s weird that they made the move such a big deal in the MJF match.

Afterwards, the Lucha Bros attacked. Will Hobbs made the save temporarily (I was wondering if they were going to give him something to do). I thought it looked kind of silly for him to get in the ring and then wait for Fenix and Penta to come to him, especially when Penta basically ignored him for several seconds and continued to choke Moxley. Darby Allin then came in to even the odds, but Ricky Starks (with Taz) hit him with a spear and had his music play as the show ended. Fine beatdown. Not sure how much it will be followed up on before Archer gets his title shot in October.

I do wonder what the original endgame was for Kingston’s insistence that he get something for the battle royal, because he’s gotten his shot now, so he shouldn’t have any grounds to complain anymore.

Outside of the matches…

There was a nice tribute graphic to Road Warrior Animal who just passed away. They mentioned him on the show, and Thunder Rosa’s face paint had a tribute design to him.

Eddie Kingston called out Moxley immediately after the first match because he wanted to look in his eyes before their title match. He also said that Moxley sold out to sports entertainment, and that was the difference between them. Ouch.

Tony Schiavone talked to Matt Jackson earlier in the day. He didn’t get superkicked, but Jackson did break his phone for asking about FTR. Then he tossed some cash at him. Matt was a huge dick here, asking people to sympathize with him and Nick while giving fake apologies for their recent actions.

Matt Hardy (still not taking time off) and Private Party called out Chris Jericho. After some talking and a random appearance by Sammy Guevara (no-selling any effects from the Broken Rules Match), Isiah Kassidy challenged Jericho for next week.

FTR and Tully Blanchard said that they’re defending against SCU next week, but from now on, tag title defenses on TV will follow a strict twenty minute time limit, and if there’s a draw, FTR will get credit for a win. They then called Best Friends backyarders because of the parking lot fight last week, so Best Friends challenged them to a match right then. They teased it, then bailed, but the seeds are set for that showdown.

Jericho accepted Kassidy’s challenge backstage, then had another interaction with MJF. They sucked up to each other, then called each other out on saying the other was a loser behind their backs. They both covered with excuses and decided to be friends.

Overall, I thought it was a good show. It kind of felt like it was coming off of a PPV after the universal praise last week’s show got, and it didn’t have any matches I liked as much as Scorpio Sky vs. Ben Carter from Late Night Dynamite the night before. But it was still good.

Next week, it’s FTR vs. SCU, Jericho vs. Kassidy, Cody answering Brodie Lee’s challenge, and Moxley appearing. And probably other stuff. The week after, there will be a celebration of Jericho’s thirty years in wrestling.

NWL Episode 60

Time to try something new…

Our Story So Far…
– The Matt Jackson administration is still in control of the NWL.
– The miserable Leonel Howlett has been on a singles tear in the NWL, but he was recently derailed by “War King” Eddie Kingston, who now has his sights on the NWL KC Championship.
– Fuego del Sol doesn’t have a lot of wins, but his high-flying style has won him many fans.
– The crafty NWL KC Champion Jeremy Wyatt won the title in the NWL Rumble and then managed to defend it cleanly against previous champion Dak Draper.
– Maverick has been bitterly chasing crowd pleaser Gary Jay ever since losing the Spirit of the NWL Championship to him back in November.
Now on to the show!

Maverick and Drew Gold arrive at the arena. Maverick isn’t interested in shaking Matt Jackson‘s hand, but Drew assures Jackson that there’ll be a new champion tonight.

Leonel Howlett vs. Fuego del Sol
Good brawler vs. flyer match. Leo gets to rag doll Fuego a lot, and Fuego gets to make big comebacks. He only slips up a couple times, and he recovers well, I think. Leo kills him with a uranagi, though, to get back to his winning ways.
Winner – Leonel Howlett

Jeremy Wyatt cuts a promo in the back about how he’s a man of his word. Eddie Kingston interrupts and talks about legacy. They jaw briefly.

NWL KC Championship: Jeremy Wyatt (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Big deal title match. Neither guy mails it in. They wrestle, they brawl, Kingston does a tope. Kingston won’t let you be cocky in front of him; you’ve got to fight to survive. Kingston hits the spinning backfist (to the Future), but Wyatt seems to have (accidentally?) KO’d the referee. Michael Strider runs in, Kingston tried to fight him off, but the numbers game overwhelms him. Strider hits the Strider spiral, and Wyatt hits the piledriver. The ref wakes up and counts the pin.
Winner – Jeremy Wyatt

Afterwards, Kingston goes on a tirade backstage, demanding that he get Strider in the ring if he comes back.

In the middle of that match, we get a Gary Jay promo about how Maverick knows that Jay is better than him.

Spirit of the NWL Championship: Gary Jay (c) vs. Maverick (w/ Drew Gold)
Maybe the most painful looking fight in NWL history that doesn’t involve foreign objects. Maverick attacked Jay a few weeks ago, so Jay returns the favor to start this wild match. They brutalize each other with their fists and elbows, and Jay takes a freaking release German suplex on the floor, landing on his head! Somehow, he can still stand and fight back after a while. Maverick breaks out a sweet dropkick, too. Neither will say die. Maverick kicks out of the flying double stomp to the back of the head. Gary misses something and gets nailed with a lariat, and Maverick finally finishes him with a running Gory bomb to become the first two-time champion in the NWL.
Winner and New Champion – Maverick

Very good episode of the show. The NWL has hit its stride.