By Allan “AWESOME” Proskin
It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means!
It’s National Cowboy Sh*t day! We open with the commentary crew running down the night, while we see members of the Dark Order in the ring which is decorated with Cowboy apparel.
We cut to the Elite in the backstage area talking about Full Gear. Kenny Omega announces he is taking some well deserved time off. Adam Cole states he’ll do his best to keep the Elite going in his absence, but Omega was really talking about the Young Bucks. Are we seeing the beginning phases of Cole vs. Omega? Time will tell!
Back to the ring, and here comes the NEW AEW World Heavyweight Champion “Hangman” Adam Page! Chants of Cowboy Sh*t ring through the arena of Page’s home state. He talks about his future match with the American Dragon Bryan Danielson, queue Bryan Danielson.
If you had Bryan turning heel on your BINGO card then congratulations you won! Yes, I had a feeling he would turn heel – but this early in his AEW career?! Bryan talks about how he’s there to fight while the new champ only wrestles three times a month. Page and Bryan get into a little scuffle as the Dark Order members hold both men back. This leads us to our first match-up of the night.
Bryan Danielson def. Evil Uno
Surprisingly a decent match! Bryan can make ANYONE look good! Even someone of the likes of Evil Uno. I actually kind of like Uno but the whole character is a little weird for me. If I’m Bryan Danielson, I’m telling the rest of the locker room to lay off the chops! His chest gets so red and cut up, it’s not even funny anymore. Bryan takes a bit to let go of his submission. In a post match interview, Bryan states that he is going to run through every member of the Dark Order. The next one to face Bryan is Chicago’s own Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana live next week on Dynamite, in Chicago no less.
We then get a quick video of MJF’s post match promo from Full Gear stating just how good he is. I mean he IS better than us and we know it.
Next, we get a backstage interview by Tony Schiavone and Eddie Kingston. Daniel Garcia and 2 point 0 come and interrupt the interview. Kingston is not happy about it! He just wants one backstage interview where he’s not disturbed. He walks off and says he’s going to catering. Time for the next match-up!
Orange Cassidy & Tomohiro Ishii (with Rocky Romero & Best Friends) def. The Butcher and the Blade
Another solid match. Orange Cassidy is so over! The crowd seems to get behind him and I dig it. I love his character! How he doesn’t care, and those Lethal kicks he does, pop me every time! I’m also really liking this new Chaos faction with the addition of the Best Friends.
Ishii is a BEAST! Very loud chops! I kind of felt bad for the guys on the receiving end of those. Can’t wait to see Okada! He’s gotta be coming soon. Second week in a row where his name was mentioned so they are setting up his arrival in a big way!
Next segment we see Tony Schiavone in the back talking to FTR with Tully and Andrade El Idolo, with his assistant. Andrade says he’s a better wrestler than Cody and Pac. FTR talks about how they were robbed at Full Gear (they were). Tully says he’s got big heuvos (balls/guts), so if Arn gets in the way he has no problem taking Arn out.
We’re back from commercial and once again the great Tony Schiavone is backstage. This time with his BFF the AEW Woman’s World Champion Dr. Britt Baker. She talks about how she’s STILL the woman’s champion and how she’s carrying this division on her back. Say what you want about Britt, but she works her butt off! It’s astonishing that she’s an actual dentist! She hypes the match between Jamie Hayter and Thunder Rosa.
Quarterfinal tournament match for TBS World Championship: Nyla Rose (with Vicki Guerrero)def. Hikaru Shida
The match started off sloppy but they turned it around rather quickly. The crowd was actually in and out of this match. There was a crazy chair spot during the match that was performed expertly. Shida was sitting on the chair, while Rose was on the apron, and did a senton – but Shida moved out of the way last second and Rose crashed onto the chair exploding it into pieces! Sereena Deeb even quickly interfered and took out one of Shida’s legs. Nyla put Shida’s bad leg in a submission and Shida tapped. Both women now have 51 career wins in AEW. Where’s Nyla’s trophy?
Next up, we see a Malakai Black promo video. He talks about Full Gear in that demonic tone that he has. Looks like it will be Malakai Black & Andrade El Idolo & FTR vs. Cody & Pac & The Lucha Bros next Wednesday on Dynamite from Chicago!
MJF, Wardlow and the Chairman Shawn Spears enter the ring. Spears tells the crowd to be silent and pay respect to the man who beat Darby Allin with a Headlock pin at Full Gear. MJF disses Virginia, which was expected. He says he can’t wait for the contract negotiation battle that he’s gonna witness in 2024, when his contract is set to expire. He brings up the rankings and how they are kind of untrue. I kind of agree a little. He should be facing Page not Bryan.
Enter CM Punk! Well, I guess we know who’s next for Punk! I’ve said this before but hearing Living Color’s Cult of Personality every week is awesome! Punk and MJF have a little stare down. Holy Sh*t chants echo the arena! I’m with them! MJF tries to introduce himself and extends his hand. Punk laughs and walks away.This match needs to be at the next PPV and not on Dynamite! They need to build the crap out of this match and I’m here for it!
We’re back from commercial and the ever-so-busy Tony Schiavone is backstage with Darby Allin. Darby talks about Full Gear and how MJF isn’t in his head. Rematch sometime soon? Out comes Billy Gunn and his kids. Looks like we’re getting Billy Gunn vs. Darby Allin on Rampage. Weird but ok. One of the Gunns walks away and says “I like turtles” cause Darby looks like that kid in the viral video where he says he likes turtles. I popped. It was funny. He kind of does!
We see the SuperKliq in the back. Both the Young Bucks aren’t cleared either. Adam Cole says it’s not over between them and Christian Cage and Jurassic Express. He says he wants a match against Jurassic Express on Rampage and his partner will be none other than former Undisputed Era member Bobby Fish! I’m all for this! Fish tries to end by saying that it’s going to be Undisputed, but is quickly cut off by Cole who says they can’t say that here. Hilarious!
Lio Rush & Dante Martin def. The Acclaimed
The Acclaimed comes out rapping once again. They say Lio is better as a manager. That got a reaction out of the crowd and me. Referring to his time as the manager for the Almighty Bobby Lashley in his time with WWE.
Another decent match! Dante Martin is insane! The way he moves in the ring is impeccable. And he’s only 20 years old, so his future is very very bright! Hell, these two as a team looked really good! IF they stay a team, I can see them getting a shot at the Tag Titles in the future.
Team Taz comes out after the match to once again try and recruit Dante for their team. I like where this story is going but I see the outcome being Lio getting jealous, leading to a match against Dante. The way I see it there’s two paths for Martin. Either kill it as a tag team with Lio Rush, or join Team Taz and have killer matches AGAINST Lio Rush. Whichever path they choose, I’m there watching.
Next, we get a backstage segment with Christian Cage and Jurassic Express talking about Full Gear, and confirming the match with Cole and Fish on Rampage.
We also get a promo video hyping up the next match in the TBS Championship tournament between the undefeated Jade Cargill and Red Velvet that will take place on Rampage.
TNT Championship match: Sammy Guevara def. Jay Lethal
It’s main event time! That TNT title is actually extremely beautiful looking! I was actually excited for this match. Seeing Lethal evolve into the wrestler he has become has been somewhat entertaining to watch. The stuff he did in TNA/Impact then Ring of Honor was pretty good. This match was exactly what you’d expect from these two. High flying, both men bouncing all over the place. Sammy kept selling his ribs. I mean, I’m sure that he’s actually hurt but he sold them a little too much. We see Tony Niese sitting front row watching this match. Are we going to get Sammy vs. Niese soon? Yes please!
Sammy picks up the victory and the Inner Circle (minus Jake Hager) come out to celebrate with the Spanish God. Sammy even shakes Lethal’s hand and Jericho raises both men’s hands as the show closes.
Another solid Dynamite! If I were to grade it I’d give it an A-. Too many backstage promo’s/interviews! Every match was very good and a bunch of great stories were told in that short time.
Next week’s Dynamite is shaping up to be a pretty stellar show. Only two matches were announced so far, but it’s still early. Tony Khan likes to drop matches throughout the week. And with that, I’ll bid you farewell and see you next week!
Author: Allan “AWESOME” Proskin Follow Allan on Twitter