Kenny Omega kicks off the Beach Break episode of Dynamite with a tense promo with Renee Paquette about his thoughts on tonight’s main event. Omega talks about this potentially being his last AEW World Championship opportunity. He shouts out to Jersey All Pro, PWG, and the indies, he also says tonight the Young Bucks will not be with him, only his best friend of over 20 years, Michael Nakazawa. Omega says, no matter what, he will walk out with his head held up high.
I worry about something though. Nakazawa had a towel over his shoulder. You don’t think…
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Chris Jericho in the show’s opening match and it was fantastic. Ciampa tried a sneak attack but Jericho must have watched the show from the back to foil his plans. Ciampa gets suplexed into a beach chair, completely shattering it. Later on Ciampa, dropped Jericho HARD on the ring steps with a double-underhook-driver, busting him open. Ciampa introduces a bucket of sand, but eats a Codebreaker for it. Jericho gains the advantage by locking in the Walls of Jericho, but Ciampa takes the low road. He grabs the bucket which the ref removes from the ring, he uses the momentary distraction to grab sand and throw it in Jericho’s eyes. He connects with the third running knee, and Ciampa nets the win in sneaky fashion. After the match, Ciampa clobbers the bloody Jericho with a chair.
This might not be over yet.
Will Ospreay and MJF have a spat in the parking area with Renee looking on nervously. Things take a turn after Ospreay completely debases MJF and his title reigns.
AEW is doing an excellent job of keeping the main event unpredictable. Will it be Omega or MJF facing Ospreay at All In in August? At this stage everyone has a reason to be in that upcoming main event. MJF and Ospreay have insane heat, yet should this happen, Omega will never challenge for the World Championship again.
Kyle Fletcher defeated Konoske Takeshita to become the new AEW International Champion
MOTY contender. Takeshita and Fletcher have history in and out of AEW. Their singles matches are some of the best in the industry. You can tell by the fluidity and how their pace always seems to remain steady. Takeshita was dominant early on, but then a forearm into the ring post turned the tide.
Everyone hates Don Callis.
Fletcher worked the arm, trying to take away Takeshita’s weaponized muscle, but could not keep the champ down. Takeshita takes Fletch for the ride with a package tombstone followed by the wheelbarrow German Suplex. As Fletcher regains power, Takeshita overpowers him yet again with an exploder. The action intensifies, Fletcher scoring with a brainbuster but cannot keep the champ down. Taking Takeshita up the corner, Fletcher drops him with a turnbuckle brainbuster, which ends the match and Takeshita’s reign as International Champion.
After the match Mick Foley arrives to praise Fletcher, but is interrupted by Don Callis. He brings TNT Champ Kevin Knight to the ring, who cuts a promo I think making fun of Fletcher and the DC-MJF. He’s still bitter about MJF and wants a World Title Match. However, Andrade interrupts and he calls his shot as well. Callis says if he can defeat Jake Doyle, next week, he can then challenge Mark Davis for the National Championship in the future. The brutes of the DCF rush to attack but they all go backstage. Doyle, Cage, Knight, and Davis can’t find him, but they do find Darby Allin and a BACKPACK which freaks out Knight who is clearly having a recurring phobia of backpacks. The backpack does indeed explode. Doyle then points off-camera saying “It was you!”
There he is, remote in hand… “How you know?”
Oh, Andrade!
Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley defeated the Workhorsemen
Not the squash one would have thought, and to be fair, Anthony Henry and JD Drake are by far not jobber fodder. These guys are legit badasses. Sure, the chance of an upset was nil, but they put on a damn good match for it. Ospreay hitting the Styles Clash on Drake was nuts. Drake outpouring Moxley was cool.
(I am a huge fan of The Workhorsemen)
Willow Nightingale wins the Women’s Gauntlet to face Thekla at Redemption
With Thekla on commentary and Mercedes Mone watched from the stage, as everyone was treated to a star studded battle royal featuring some of the top of the division. Athena, Maya World, Skye Blue, Julia Hart, Reina, Thunder Rosa, and Mina Shirakawa. An excellent battle royale where every woman absolutely shined. Blue and Hart went feral and began attacking everyone at ringside. Athena became a wrestling machine. Mina, Rosa, Maya, and Reina all looked like potential winners. Once Willow returned the outcome seemed fairly clear, but did not take away from the exemplary wrestling which took place prior to her arrival and subsequent pinfall on Julia Hart.
Thekla’s commentary was hilarious. The sound effect she made when describing her crush on Mina was hysterical.
This sets up Willow vs. Thekla. However, Divine Dominion would blindside the Sisters of Sin, while Thekla speared Willow. The timing was a bit off, so on TV it initially appeared as though perhaps Thekla turned on them, but then Mercedes Mone attacked Thekla and revealed her alliance with Megan Bayne and Lena Cross.
Willow vs. Thekla was likely the plan for All In, but the injury sabotaged those plans. Running it at Redemption is the consolation prize. This would likely lead to Mercedes vs. Willow at All In instead, which would also be a potential show-stealer. Should this be the case, Thekla can go full throttle with her feud with the STARDOM promotion.
Kenny Omega defeated Maxwell Jacob Friedman to win the AEW World Heavyweight Championship
This was one hell of a match. Absolutely 100% unpredictable. This was a wrestling match which delivered in every way. The story everyone begs for. The facial expressions during the match. The energy from both, fighting in their own respective ways to claim the championship. The match spilled from the ring to the floor and into the crowd. Brawling all over the place. The crowd lit up. Tons of teases for either MJF’s Heatseeker or Omega’s One Winged Angel. After a number of false finishes and teases, specifically when MJF hit a Poisonrana off the top and then the Heatseeker for only a two-count, MJF went to the shenanigan playbook. Grab the title, ref takes it away, pull out diamond ring. However, Will Ospreay ran in for the save and stole the ring. However, as the ref was busy with Ospreay, MJF seized the moment for a low blow and hit him with the title belt anyway.
ONE COUNT. Omega fired up hard, shrugged off anything MJF could do. Three V-Triggers and a One-Winged Angel later, AEW has a new World Champion.
Top-tier episode of Dynamite. The Beach Break edition is always fun and delivered a pay-per-view feel. The venue gave a very cool vibe and the hot crowd always adds to the level of excitement.
Now it becomes Will Ospreay challenging Kenny Omega for the AEW Men’s World Championship at All In. The promos will be very intriguing. Will they stay friendly and competitive with each other or perhaps a brief heel turn is in the works?
