What a great episode of Dynamite. I’m not saying it for the sake of saying something nice, AEW earned the praise.
I’ll just get this out of the way. About all the “stuff” happening over the weekend following the PPV, I’m disappointed. Simply disappointed. It’s a damn shame this happened, but I truly hope the right decisions by all parties will be made and the wrestling world will move on.
Being honest, the attention span of most people is fairly short, wrestling fans even shorter. We might remember some of it when some wrestlers return, but we’ll all forget about it shortly after that.
AEW Dynamite 9/7 kicks off with Tony Khan announcing the AEW World Championship and Trios Championships have been vacated and new champs will be crowned. Best Friends will face Death Triangle to crown new Trios Champs, while tonight begins a tournament to culminate at Grand Slam to crowd a new AEW World Champion.
MJF comes to the ring and cuts a big babyface promo about coming back to do right by AEW. It’s pretty funny. Some slight hints to the incident. AS a fellow tribesman, I appreciate his use of Torah and citation of Moshe splitting the Red Sea. However, Maxwell isn’t saying he is like Moshe, but he’s better than him!
However, out interrupts is Jon Moxley and he isn’t buying what MJF is selling. Quickly, MJF drops the charade and goes vocally bonkers by name dropping WWE, Cody Rhodes, and even Triple H himself, in an effort feigns a fight, only to have a malfunction getting his shirt off and bails from the ring. Mox then cuts one of the most passionate pro-pro wrestling promos I have ever heard. No script here, I guarantee it. He clearly loves being a wrestler, and puts over all the tournament participants, even going as far to say they are all better than him in some capacity.
Mox is the heart of AEW. This proves it.
I have to point out, before Max started speaking, the crowd chants “you were right.” We know who they were referring to.
Death Triangle defeated Best Friends to become the new AEW Trios Champions
What a fun match to open the wrestling of the show. Either team could have believably been winners. Perfectly honest, while I thoroughly enjoyed the match, I really wanted Best Friends to win. It feels like they get passed over so many times, it would have been such a cool moment to allow them to become trios champs. I’m fine with Death Triangle being the champions, I don’t doubt we will get some really good matches in the future.
Trouble is, where do Best Friends go from here? Orange Cassidy will always have singles matches to fall back on, but Trent and Chuckie are tag team bros.
Toni Storm defeated Penelope Ford
Good match with an awkward finish. Ford looked solid and hopefully she’ll get more airtime on Dynamite and Rampage again.
The Acclaimed are interrupted by Swerve Strickland
Caster and Bowens along with “Daddy Ass” Billy Gunn on their way to the ring, but their music is disrupted by Swerve Strickland who talks trash. Caster and Bowens have their shot, but it’s Billy Gunn who steps up and cuts one hell of a promo on swerve. Crowd goes crazy.
It’s 2022 and Billy Gunn is not just over, but massively over.
Acclaimed versus Swerve in Our Glory II at Grand Slam. Swerve is bordering uber-heel and Keith Lee was nowhere in sight.
Backstage: Dark Order laments their loss, and shows Alex Reynolds is injured and will be out of action. This is interrupted by Jose the Assistant attempting to lure Preston Vance but is chased off by Evil Uno and John Silver. However, backing up Jose is Andrade and RUSH, which seems to confuse the Dark Order as to why Vance accepted a crutch from Andrade and did not seem fazed by their appearance.
If the Dark Order is going to end, I hope they go out with something special. It will be bittersweet when it happens, and I hope they get to out with some dignity.
Bryan Danielson defeated Hangman Adam Page to advance in the AEW World Championship Tournament
This was PPV quality. Hangman and Danielson have a chemistry which is uncanny. So many near-falls and close calls. After close to 30-minutes of wrestling, Hangman misses a Buckshot Lariat and is rolled up for a clean three-count. While disappointing Hangman’s journey towards another World Championship comes to an abrupt end, it allows Danielson to face off with Chris Jericho next week to settle their score from All Out.
Stokley Hathway and crew: Stokley brings out his group, but are interrupted by “staff” who tell him to cut it short. The staffer gets beaten up. Not sure what this accomplishes. Aside from Morrison and Ethan Page, I’m not sure what the end game will be.
AEW 9/7 Main Event: Daniel Garcia defeats Wheeler Yuta to become the New Ring of Honor Pure Wrestling Champion
Quite fitting, as the live crowd booms with “You’re a Wrestler” chants throughout the match towards their hometown hero in Garcia.
Watching Garcia and Yuta immediately flashing me back to the early-90s in comparison to Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero in ECW. Yuta taking the smart approach by embracing being considered heel by the live Buffalo crowd, even disobeying the rules.
A point in the match featured a massive exchange of german suplexes. Unbelievable.
Garcia locks on the Dragon Tamer, with Yuta fighting hard, but ultimately tapped out. What a match. Post match, Yuta and Garcia shake hands, Danielson comes down to the ring, and puts the ROH Pure Championship belt around Garcia’s waist. They shake hands as Chris Jericho comes down the ramp with eyes wide and jaw dropped in disbelief. Perfect.
A Dynamite like this is a big time reminder there are plenty of high quality top wrestlers available to put on a damn good show. AEW is in good hands, and will be just fine.
