This will be a short and sweet recap for AEW Dynamite 8/11. Rampage begins Friday night August 13th, and there is a ton of hype for the card, which features a ton of main event caliber matches.
The show kicks off with a red-hot trios match featuring Dante Martin & The Sydal Brothers against The Elite members Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. If you haven’t watched, go find it on the TNT app or YouTube. Dante Martin is the MVP of the match. If anything, this match may have been designed to put this kid over huge. Sydals were great, lots of fast-paced action between them and the Bucks. Let’s not forget Mr. Omega who has some pretty wonky antics in the ring.
It took all members of The Elite to take out Martin. Dante kicked out of everything, until Omega delivered the One Winged Angel followed by multiple BTE-Triggers. Remember when Scorpio Sky put on a main-eventer against Chris Jericho and believably could have won? That was Dante Martin tonight. He could have won the match in an upset and it would have been epic.
Begs the question… Why not? No belts were on the line, and would have shown a crack in the armor to encourage fans to question whether Omega could retain not one but both championships against Christian?
A-plus match. Post match Christian Cage comes out to remind Omega he will defend the AEW World Championship against him at All Out, but will also defend the Impact Championship at AEW Rampage.
Will Christian win either belt? Unlikely, but damn does this make me wonder if I’m wrong.
Additionally, Jurassic Express came to back up Christian, and let the Bucks know they have a match for the AEW Tag Team Championships next week on Dynamite.
Darby Allin defeated Daniel Garcia
Allin wasn’t going to lose, Sting in the corner fending off the antics of the former “Ever-Rise” group. 2.0 has some great antics, even accusing him to be “Fake Sting” from the nWo days. Hilarious. It was a good match, enjoyable, and hopefully we get to see more of this trio in the future.
Love ‘em on BTE.
The HFO (Hardy and Private Party) defeated Best Friends (Cassidy, Chuckie, Yuta)
Another great trios match. Private Party just gets better with each match, and continues a trend of fun matches which you can’t help but smile at the enthusiasm emitting from all wrestlers involved.
Let’s see more!
Kris Statlander defeated Nyla Rose
Short and sweet. Rose began with using her strength and power to dominate, but did not last for long. Statlander had enough of being pushed around, and began firing back relentlessly, even while Rose managed to get a couple of her staple moves off. In the end, a big time Area 451 secured the win for The Galaxy’s Favorite Alien.
Dr. Britt Baker and Tony Schiavone
In front of her hometown crowd, with fans rallying the yellow towels, Dr. Baker arrives to a thunderous ovation! The top woman in wrestling addressed her hometown crowd while also hyping up Rampage for her AEW Women’s Championship defense. The promo was cut short by an interfering Red Velvet. Yes, she got booed for it.
Baker’s organic run as a crowd favorite heel can easily be clichéd as comparison to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or The Rock, but she has accomplished this in her own unique way. I do believe Dr. Britt Baker, DMD is the best female wrestler in the industry, period.
Change. My. Mind.
The Good Brothers retained the Impact Tag Team Championships against Evil Uno and Stu Grayson
A good match with a predictable outcome. Not horrible, and we got to see once again just how good Uno and Grayson are as a team. We haven’t seen them together on Dynamite very often, so I was happy to see them in the match. A good match as we near the end of the show.
QT Marshall further antagonizes Tony Schiavone. This time he threatens Tony’s son, which brought out Paul Wight to clobber Aaron Solow. Eh, filler. I guess we get Wight versus The Factory at some point? Keep this to AEW Dark please.
Main Event of AEW Dynamite 8/11: Chris Jericho defeated Wardlow to face MJF next week on Dynamite
I would have thought MJF vs. Jericho would have been saved for All Out, unless next week is a tease and All Out is where the final chapter will close. I could be wrong.
The match was alright. Wardlow excessively powerbombing Jericho just seemed to lose its luster after a while. Jericho fought back and appeared to have victory nearing, until MJF gouged the eyes of Jericho, and wound up with the AEW Diamond Ring, but was caught by referee Aubrey Edwards. As she ejected him from ringside, Jericho grabbed Floyd the Bat and knocked out Wardlow for the decisive win.
MJF’s stipulations for next week were twofold: No Judas Effect allowed, and no Judas entrance song.
Meh. Could have been better. Why not revisit the cage match and use some cerebral methods to intimidate Jericho?
In any case, the focus is now on AEW Rampage with a huge lineup which for some ungodly reason includes Miro vs. Fuego Del Sol.
He’s gonna die.
AEW Dynamite 8/11 is now streaming on TNT.
