This was, put simply, an incredible night of wrestling and comfortably the best Dynamite of the year, though that is perhaps not surprising given the Grand Slam brandings tradition of high quality. A show that absolutely felt PPV standard and can perhaps even be argued to be a more cohesive show than many of AEW’s paid offerings thanks to the more concise match card. Every match was exciting, well booked and brilliantly performed, while the consistent storytelling, lively structure and molten hot New York crowd brought the in-ring action together into a really satisfying package. My only negative takeaway from the show was the scary ending to Moxley vs Fenix, as although the botched ending put a dampener on an otherwise brilliant match, for such a professional not to kick out when anticipated leads me to believe something may be wrong, so I hope Jon and all involved are okay. That botch sadly forces me to significantly drop that matches rating, for what otherwise would've easily been a 4+ star match. Otherwise, the only thing keeping this show from a perfect score is the lack of a 5 star match, but in truth it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things when the action across the show is so consistently excellent, and I applaud everyone involved for a brilliant show!
It’s Grand Slam, and tonight sees an incredibly stacked card from Arthur Ashe Stadium. MJF puts his AEW Men’s World Championship on the line against a rampaging Samoa Joe, while Toni Storm takes on Saraya for the Women’s World Championship. Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli get their long awaited rematch with both the ROH World and NJPW Strong Openweight Championships, as well as a lot of pride at stake. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara also look to settle the differences, and Rey Fenix becomes the latest International Championship contender! Let’s get at it!
MUST WATCH Eddie Kingston vs Claudio Castagnoli- ROH World/NJPW Strong Openweight
A brilliant show opener on the level of these two’s last encounter. Fantastic psychology of both men’s refusal to show pain and weakness to the other, which also bled into some excellent storytelling attached alongside that. The match’s biggest strength was a phenomenal crowd, who absolutely brought every ounce of energy they had. Not quite at that top level for a 5 star match, with a slightly dodgy looking clothesline in there and the match not quite innovative enough for a full star in that department, but nevertheless this was a super brilliant match and a great end to their rivalry.
Result: Eddie Kingston by Pinfall via Powerbomb
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 4.5 Stars
Very funny segment with the Kingdom reading out cards to a hospital ridden Roddy. Nice to see Cole and Strong continuing to advance their complex storyline.
Christian vs Luchasaurus vs Darby for the TNT Title is booked for Collision. They are really going out of their way to stack that card.
AMAZING Chris Jericho vs Sammy Guevara
A match far better than the story suggested, these two went hell for leather for our entertainment. Unfortunately I must dock a mark from Fundamentals for a very major and obvious botch that did take me out of the match, a shame as it would’ve received perfect marks in that department otherwise . The storytelling in the match wasn’t as interweaved as it could’ve been, focusing more on the in-ring action, though the ending played very nicely into the post match angle. Finally the crowd, while molten hot in places, were a little cold in others so I do narrowly dock another 0.25 there. However, the innovation was fantastic with an extraordinary ending, and I think Sammy sold his knee well, so Psychology and Innovation get full score. The post match angle of Guevara joining Callis is a fantastic move for Guevara’s career, and the match itself was even better perhaps than the rating suggests, but my hands are tied in certain areas (particularly the botch which sadly hurts it).
Result: Chris Jericho by Pinfall via Codebreaker
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
Amazing promo from MJF from outside a car. This is to be expected given how good MJF is.
Hook is at long last back on TV. Doesn’t last long though as we get a really quite heartbreaking segment with Orange Cassidy instead. He looks so lost and confused, and it genuinely made me so sad. Go home and have a cup of tea Orange, go to Disney World, do something that makes you happy. I just wanna see him smile.
GREAT Jon Moxley vs Rey Fenix- AEW International Championship
An extremely surprising result and a very bizarre finish, but the bell to bell action was outstanding. It looked to me as though Moxley may have slightly tweaked his knee early on, which made the opening exchanges in the ring a bit clunky, but once Moxley got through that we got an incredible TV match. A real shame then that the ending had something go badly wrong, with Moxley not kicking out of a piledriver only to lose to a second one immediately. Whether it was a referee miscount, a competitor mistiming or an injury it did heavily put the fire out of an otherwise magnificent match, but of course if the reason was an injury or health issue, that will always come before the trivialities of wrestling. The botch unfortunately squashes the rating which would’ve been a lot higher, but it sadly is what it is.
Result- Rey Fenix by Pinfall via Piledriver
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
AMAZING Saraya vs Toni Storm- AEW Women’s Championship
This match began with the crowd stone dead and ended it with them molten for Toni Storm. This was a distillation of what the AEW Women’s Championship storyline for the last month should’ve been. Excellent storytelling and a really hot crowd by the end made up for the fact that work rate wise there wasn’t a ton to this, but there didn’t have to be. I can’t in good conscious give the atmosphere the full 1 star for this match because the crowd really had to be warmed up, but man when they were warmed up did they sing. I really really enjoyed this match
Result: Saraya by Pinfall via Hanging DDT
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
MUST WATCH MJF vs Samoa Joe- AEW World Championship- Watch Match Here
At its heart, we love professional wrestling because at its very core lies a sense of pantomime. Sometimes the key to victory is placing a man the crowd desperately wants to cheer, and putting them against a monster heel intent on destruction and pain and watching them overcome it. Add in some additional adversity to the face to really make his task seem hopeless and you get an immensely addictive match. This match was the purest distillation of wrestling fun, and I had a wonderful time watching it. MJF sold his neck brilliantly here and the crowd were so behind him it made Joe appear like the most horrid bully for refusing to give him breathing room. Some of this match was very silly and I’m sure some of the more comedic aspects will turn some people away, but wrestling should be a fun crowd sport, and this was some of the most entertaining crowd work wrestling I have seen in a long time. The only thing keeping it from a 5 star match is whilst I can justify a full star for Fundamentals as I saw no botches of any kind within the match and the action was varied and consistently interesting, it didn’t quite reach the standard to give it full marks for Innovation, but the match was never about being innovative. If anything it was a throwback match to older eras, while still maintaining the moral complexities of the MJF character that feel so integral and modern. A wonderful main event match
Result: MJF by Submission via Assisted Sleeper
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.75 Stars
Overall…
This was, put simply, an incredible night of wrestling and comfortably the best Dynamite of the year, though that is perhaps not surprising given the Grand Slam brandings tradition of high quality. A show that absolutely felt PPV standard and can perhaps even be argued to be a more cohesive show than many of AEW’s paid offerings thanks to the more concise match card. Every match was exciting, well booked and brilliantly performed, while the consistent storytelling, lively structure and molten hot New York crowd brought the in-ring action together into a really satisfying package. My only negative takeaway from the show was the scary ending to Moxley vs Fenix, as although the botched ending put a dampener on an otherwise brilliant match, for such a professional not to kick out when anticipated leads me to believe something may be wrong, so I hope Jon and all involved are okay. That botch sadly forces me to significantly drop that matches rating, for what otherwise would’ve easily been a 4+ star match. Otherwise, the only thing keeping this show from a perfect score is the lack of a 5 star match, but in truth it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things when the action across the show is so consistently excellent, and I applaud everyone involved for a brilliant show!
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 1/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 1/1 Stars
Storytelling: 1/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 1/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 4.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – September 20th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
