Hello boys, I’m baaaaaaaaack!
I don’t know, I thought the line from Quaid in Independence Day was appropriate. After nearly a month of hiatus thanks to a number of the Jewish High holy days, I’m back in the saddle and back with your weekly AEW Dynamite review. I’ve done my last few recaps using Google’s voice typing feature, yet I find it really strange why every promotion gets capitalized except for AEW. I wonder if somebody in Google is biased.
Anyway, if you watched tonight’s show then you know all the major highlights including, new World Tag Team champions, the debut of Bobby Lashley, the hasty retreat by the Young Bucks, and the main event for the next AEW pay-per-view, Full Gear, featuring orange Cassidy challenging John Moxley for the World championship. Also, an unexpected amount of respect was shown between competitors tonight. read on as I elaborate further.
Fright Night Dynamite was an action-packed episode. So here we go with The recap of the highlights.
The show kicks off with Orange Cassidy admitting that he’s not going to cut his traditional promo and that he feels pretty awkward even cutting a promo. Cassidy’s promo states he did not want to be a leader, he does not perceive himself to be a leader, however after last week’s harsh beat down involving his friend Chuck Taylor, that all has changed. He does not see himself as a leader, and he wants to handle things his own way, challenging Mox to defend the championship at the next pay-per-view. He also cuts a passionate promo about how guys like John Moxley did not need AEW, however the locker room people like himself, Daniel Garcia, and others did need AEW to exist in order to get a fair chance.
I thought it was a really solid promo from a guy who rarely cuts promos. He did not seem uncomfortable or awkward at all despite what he said in front of the crowd. He came off as an individual who is tired of veterans bullying their way around the company. I will be in attendance at Full Gear and I’m very much looking towards the main event.
The opening match featured Adam Cole coming back after an extremely long absence due to injury, against the house of blacks very own buddy matthews. I really enjoyed this match, mostly because Buddy Matthews appears to be more the MVP than Cole. Cole was still selling an injured leg, and at one point nearly walked out on the match. If not for Matthew’s taunting Cole may have actually walked out. Sometime later he managed to overpower Matthews and get the pinfall victory. Post-match Cole cut a promo thanking Matthews for helping him realize who the real Adam Cole is. They shake hands after the match, nice show of respect, but the lights go out and as they turn back on Adam Cole is in the grip of Malachi black. Yes, please give me this match. well the match was pretty good, I felt it was a little strange for Cole to be overselling an injured leg. Even teasing to leave was a little shocking considering the whole premise is that he’s supposed to be back from injury and ready to wrestle again. Honestly I would have been fine if Matthew’s won the match this way they can continue to play off coal as an underdog who may not be ready to be back in the ring full time.
Don’t worry, not each recap of each segment will be that lengthy.
Next up is another appearance for a promo, this time Kyle Fletcher with Don Callis. Fletcher again taunts Will Ospreay, however instead of being confronted by Ospreay himself who we know is out due to injury, Mark Davis, former United Empire tag team partner appears and questions why Fletcher would align with Don and not remain loyal to the United Empire. Fletcher instead counters by offering Davis a spot in the family; however he refuses and walks away. Fletcher angrily lets Davis know that a decision will have to be made sooner rather than later and he better be on the right side.
Much better to have a shorter promo from Fletcher, while his initial promo explaining his actions was lengthy it still got the point across. Clearly this will build up to a match between Fletcher and osprey, but I do wonder where Mark Davis will eventually stand with all this.
Renee Paquette encounters a very angry Adam page backstage, who promises that at full gear switchblade Jay White may not survive. In fact Hangman even threatens to burn down his house as well. Again, short and to the point, and this is the Hangman who we need to stick around for longer. I know people enjoyed having him as a baby face, but his heel persona is Miles better, and the promos are that more verbally vicious.
A very curious in-ring promo from Jon Moxley and his Death Riders. This pseudo Invasion angle sees Moxley taunting Cassidy, stating that he already made the challenge to face him. Things take a wild turn when they suddenly turn on Wheeler Yuta and threaten to break his neck much in the way they did to Chucky Taylor. However this brought out orange Cassidy to make the save, revealing the trick all along as wheeler Yuta begins stomping down Cassidy. The dark order, private party,Top Flight and A rafter swinging Darby Allin make the save in driving off the death riders. In a strange move the Young Bucks make their entrance for their tag team defense.
This is something not to be completely surprised by that the Bucks would interrupt a segment to bring attention to themselves, it is curious that they would do so in a segment involving Jon Moxley and his crew considering they’ve been trying to duck him for the past few weeks.
Private Party defeated the Young Bucks to become the new All Elite Wrestling World Tag Team Champions
What a fantastic match. While it’s not a match of your candidate, the constant teasing of Private Party breaking up, and the Young Bucks managing to outsmart them at every turn was a nice touch. A lot of moments really appeared. The Private Party would be over. There is no denying that Marq Quen and Isiah Cassiday truly worked their way to the top of the tag team division. always present, always work horses, always putting on their best in every match. Marq was dragged all the way up to the stage where Okada hit him with a Tombstone Piledriver, then smirked his way off the stage. Really slick and sinister if you ask me. The Young Bucks isolated Isaiah Cassidy for the majority of the second half of the match, however Quen managed to make it back in time to stop what was likely going to be a three count. Cassidy had eaten numerous Super Kicks and finishing moves by this point. However, with the Young Bucks completely caught off guard and confused they hit the gin and juice finisher for the decisive three count and victory. Congratulations to the Private Party and AEW homegrown tag team who truly deserve it.
As unexpected goes tonight, the Young Bucks present the tag team championship belts to Private Party out of a sign of respect. Again, I didn’t have that on my bingo card considering how the Bucks have been complete ego maniacs but hey it’s a nice moment for everyone involved. Later backstage the Bucks are shown to be shredding papers and packing their bags, then high-tailing it out of the arena exclaiming that this place is no longer safe for them. They drive off as Brandon Cutler gives chase, and turns around to realize that Jon Moxley and Company are right behind him. Unfortunately, Cutler takes the beat down and it seems The Elite no longer want any part of Mox and his plans.
That little segment was both comical and serious at the same time and somehow they made it work.
Next up in another promo taking place from the entrance stage, Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith cut a promo about how Jericho plans on bringing true honor back to Ring of Honor, and he has big plans for the company. Maybe it’s a tease for the rumor television deal, or perhaps it’s something else. Jericho still talks about Jay Briscoe which we know is never a good idea. sorry, I know this gimmick has been going on for a while but I’m still undecided whether I can really tolerate it anymore.
I really did not want to see Briscoe lose the title to Jericho, however it makes sense if they’re going to build up a new baby face to become champion.
Backstage before the Young Bucks made their escape, Daniel Garcia had heated words with TNT champion Jack Perry. Looks like that will be a confrontation in the near future.
Kris Statlander defeated Kamille
Fantastic women’s division match. absolutely fantastic. two powerhouses testing each other’s strength. I felt that there was some really good chemistry between the two of them, exchanging holds, slams, and some pretty hard-hitting moves overall. Statlander winning was a very nice touch, and while some might feel it’s a bit anticlimactic to have somebody so new as Kamille lose, I think it just puts Statlander as a bigger threat to Mercedes Mone, who I think we all agree we don’t want to see on TV anymore.
Backstage Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, and Tomohiro Ishii challenge The Learning Tree to a Fight Without Honor next week on Dynamite. It’s going to be brutal folks. I’m there.
Swerve Strickland defeated Shelton Benjamin in the main event
While swerve winning was probably the right booking decision, I would have not complained if Benjamin was given the win. Shelton Benjamin has probably been one of the most underutilized wrestlers in history. His run in WWE consistently fell short due to poor booking decisions. This guy is a technical wrestling machine, and even at age 49, moves around like a 30 year old. Benjamin has never lost a single step, and in fact I think he added a few more to his repertoire tonight. watching him through Strickland around with suplexes was a thing of beauty. This was a five-star, A+, awesome match. undeniably awesome. I’m sure the attention-seekers on social media will find ways of trashing it, but clearly deep down inside they know this was an excellent display of wrestling on television.
The final moments of the show certainly packed a punch, as MVP made a phone call, bringing out Bobby Lashley. The big guy ran right over Swerve, while Prince Nana suffered at the hands of MVP.
To close out the show MVP exclaims “ guess who’s back in business?”
After almost a month of missing AEW programming, I felt like I was a little bit in the dark, but thanks to tonight’s show I was fully caught up to speed. I truly am just enjoying wrestling right now. I haven’t watched WWE as much as I used to, but if you tell me that Chad Gable is on I’ll watch that. you tell me that anybody is putting on an entertaining wrestling match, I’ll turn it on. this is what all the wrestling does for me, I enjoy it because I enjoy wrestling. End of story.
