HomeTelevisionAEW Dynamite 4/29 Review: Solid Wrestling Will Always Carry the Show

AEW Dynamite 4/29 Review: Solid Wrestling Will Always Carry the Show

Written by Brian McNamara

AEW Dynamite 4/29 begins with a great hype package for Darby vs. Cody. Darby is clearly a star in the making and Cody can sell himself and his opponents like no one else. I haven’t checked in on Dynamite in a while, and I was immediately drawn in and excited for this tournament from just this two minute recap.

Within just four minutes of Chris Jericho on commentary, we’ve heard “idiots” and “maniacs” so many times. Jericho and Tony Schiavone are a good pair. Jericho works hard to put over as much of the talent on screen as he can while still playing the bad guy on air. Schiavone remains one of the best voices in announcing and he plays well off of Jericho.

Darby Allin vs. Cody Rhodes: TNT Title Tournament Semifinal

Darby and Cody begin by slowly sizing each other up and then we get some great mat wrestling. Cody’s knee buckles as he tries to bridge out of the holds and Darby takes advantage. Cody side-steps a running attack from Darby Allin and the sk8r boi flies into Brandi Rhodes on the outside.

Cody and Darby are a good natural pairing. There’s something about their physicality that is very complimentary. Darby also looks small compared to Cody, himself a relatively smaller than average wrestler. The match has a very classic feel. Far more technical and measured than I would have thought from these two. Darby transitions seamlessly from ground-based offense to a whip-sharp Code Red and then back again.

The tempo changes with Cody taking more of the lead while still struggling with his tweaked knee. A real classic Saturday morning “wrasslin’” feel. Darby takes control by delivering a Cross Rhodes to Cody followed by a figure four. The pace picks up as Darby starts pulling out his tricks, but Cody seemingly has a counter for each one. He catches Darby in an Asai Moonsault off the ropes that Darby reverses. Cody then lands a spike Cross Rhodes. He attempts to do a Coffin Drop on Allin, but Darby gets his knees up to block. Darby attempts his own Coffin Drop and lands it, but in trying to pin Cody, Cody is able to get his shoulders up and pin Allin. In all, this was a great match between the two. It struck a good balance. But it seemed to lose a little bit in its third act. Something about the Coffin Drop finish seemed off. Darby didn’t quite have his legs up enough for his reversal, Cody doesn’t actually attempt a pin, he just… has his shoulder up and Darby slides off Cody. It felt off and an odd note to end on.

Winner: Cody Rhodes

A solid little hype package for Scorpio Sky leads us into an injury update from MJF. He now says he’s injured himself shaving and continues on his heel antics. There’s something very fun about MJF Skyping-in to the show with increasingly silly injuries.

Musa vs. Wardlow

A pretty bog-standard squash match for a monster. Musa gets in one nice slap to the face, but it’s too little too late. Wardlow does deliver a pretty mean looking knee to the face and then tosses Musa around the ring some.

Winner: Wardlow

This week’s Bubbly Bunch brings us more of Jericho’s pooches and a fresh take on the Don’t Rush Challenge, the Manitoba Melee. It’s a bit of a fluff, but it’s entertaining enough. Plus we get some great cameos: Lou Ferrigno. Jay & Silent Bob. Virgil? Vicky!?

https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1255660050842083328

Jimmy Havoc & Kip Sabian vs. The Best Friends: No DQ

Havoc and Kip take it to Trent and Chuck as soon as they get into the ring. It’s mere minutes into the match before Havoc whips out a chair. But he fakes out going for Trent to hit Orange Cassidy at ring side. The Freshly Squeezed one is carried to the back.

The match devolves into chaos pretty quickly as Kip and Jimmy pull out all their tricks of the No DQ trade. The Best Friends are able to fight their way back to a lead, even rolling out something akin to the Con-Chair-to before a Best Friends’ Hug over the felled Jimmy Havoc spoils their lead. Chucky drops Jimmy Havoc onto a chair with its legs sticking up into the air with half-michinoku driver and then piledrives Kip Sabian onto a chair. Orange Cassiday comes from the back armed with a chair and helps the team even the odds after Penelope Ford interferes. He sacrifices himself to keep Sabian and Ford out of the match and Chucky T delivers a running piledriver onto the pile of chairs with Jimmy havoc to pick up the pin.

This match was fun, but felt a little on the fly. It also inadvertently has some of the same beats as the Cody/Darby match – accidentally taking out your own manager, manager injured only to come out of the back and help secure the win. In that sense it feels a little weak. Clearly everyone is capable of more, but they felt constrained by the pre-taped nature of the shows.

Winner: The Best Friends

Dr. Britt Baker’s heel “Be A Role Model” video was actually kinda delightfully fun? Poor Tony Schiavone, always the but of the jokes.

Baron Black Vs. Shawn Spears

Essentially a squash match, but well-balanced with Baron Black getting a short-lived, early advantage and some nice looking chops on Spears in the middle of the match. Spears looks great in victory – including using Jericho’s cocky pin and getting Baron Black to tap out to a sharpshooter. It does a lot for Spears in rebuilding him, and feels more substantial then just running roughshod over someone.

Winner: Shawn Spears

Marko Stunt vs. Brodie Lee

The methodical cult leader puts Stunt through his paces, literally manhandling him and delivering some truly vicious looking throws and kicks. Marko gets some moments to shine, including a powerful punch that fails to change the facial expression of Lee. It can be a little hard to watch Stunt get thrown around, but it’s a well-paced match.

Winner: Brodie Lee

We get a video package of Jon Moxley stalking the wilds of Las Vegas. It’s tonally one of the oddest promos I’ve seen in a while but it works for Moxley. He puts over AEW returning to live broadcasts, talks about lockdown, his wife, calling grandma, ordering local and thumbtacks to the eyes. It’s so odd and so oddly Moxley. AEW, please give us Moxley riding town to town, blasting Metallica with his dogs in this format. Mad Mox driving through deserted lockdown streets.

Lance Archer vs. Dustin Rhodes: TNT Tournament Semifinal

Lance Archer rode a wave of success in NJPW’s G1 last year to become one of the most interesting wrestlers in that promotion. His move to AEW is poised to elevate him even higher and they’ve been treating him like the monster he should be. This was a good old-fashioned big fan fight, full of strikes and strong-arming early on. Archer took charge for much of the match, relying on his brash big man style. Dustin relies on his tried and true set, including some of the more agile moves he’s added in AEW.

He battles his way back after being busted open and shatters more than of Archer’s dreams to pop the crowd. Archer takes charge again and starts playing with Dustin’s wound. The two have a match that feels like a classic 80s wrestling match – two big men, knocking each other around. Much like the earlier Cody match, it feels like “wrasslin’”

Dustin pulls out a Code Red and delivers a sharp Cross Rhodes but it’s not enough – Archer kicks out at one. Archer whips out a chokeslam followed by his Old School into a moonsault. Both competitors have put a lot into this match. Archer again gets the upper hand as the Nightmare Family comes down to consider throwing in the towel for Dustin. Cody refuses to throw the towel in, so Archer drags Dustin back into the ring, smashes his head into the ground and finishes him off with a head claw.

Winner: Lance Archer

Overall AEW Dynamite 4/29 was a very solid episode of Dynamite, especially considering the circumstances. Buoyed by two big stakes matches with solid storytelling and a classic feel. Perhaps too many squash matches that didn’t quite feel as polished as they could be. Some of the matches even felt like they were cribbed from the same play book. Still though, an enjoyable night of wrestling. No match overstayed its welcome and the night seemed well-paced. It could have maybe used a women’s division match to break up the style a little bit. By having a handful of performers in the crowd to cheer and boo and by keeping the talking bits to pre-tapes, AEW have crafted a more organic feeling version of TV wrestling. You didn’t notice that it was a smaller, more intimate. And that’s probably going to be a pathway to follow as AEW looks to bring back live tapings.

AEW Dynamite 4/29 is now available on TNT and your local cable operator on demand.

Pop-Break Staff
Pop-Break Staffhttps://thepopbreak.com
Founded in September 2009, The Pop Break is a digital pop culture magazine that covers film, music, television, video games, books and comics books and professional wrestling.
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