This was a fun, if slightly underwhelming episode of Dynamite. As is always expected from Dynamite the in ring action is consistently good to great, and I very much enjoyed the show closing angle and some of the promo work done throughout the night, but something was missing. The crowd felt extremely quiet when the show began, but did improve by the main event, leaving me contemplating whether it was a microphone issue, poor attendance or lack of investment. Storylines did advance well across the show, but I do think the show was missing a really killer talking point coming out the other side, instead settling for a mostly safe approach heading into next weeks event. A very standard show by AEW’s standards, but a decent stepping stone to bigger things.
Tonight on AEW Dynamite, it’s the final of the AEW Contenders Tournament as Roderick Strong takes on Samoa Joe. A number one contenders spot for the AEW Women’s Title at Grand Slam is up for grabs in a fatal 4 way, and Hangman Page takes on Big Bill in their third singles encounter. Let’s get at it!
GREAT Jon Moxley vs Big Bill
Absolutely brutal this was, its very rare to see Moxley manhandled but Bill is able to do it. I do think this match highlights the moral murkiness of the BCC, with heel Claudio and Face Danielson saving Tweener Moxley. Nevertheless, a slow match that gets really strong by its end, with a really creative finish of Moxley using his ingenuity against Bills brute force. A great end to a match which developed.
Result: Jon Moxley by Submission via Triangle Choke
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.75 Stars
Roderick Strong and Adam Cole have a slightly stilted back and forth, which I would and should normally criticise, but it kind of suits the awkward dynamic that they have.
AMAZING Don Callis Reveals His Masterpiece
Callis cuts an excellent promo, but I feel like under a better crowd this wouldve been nuclear. Saying someone is better than Inoki would be sacrilegious to a japanese audience but only got a small reaction here. Regardless, Takeshitas next target is Ibushi, which should be a fun little match and feud, and Callis’ promo here really was excellent. Just wish it had the crowd to go with it.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
BCC book a tag match for Collision, before theres a pull apart brawl with them, Fenix and Kingston. This was fine, but the interview segment on Collision was much more interesting
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.
GOOD Toni Storm vs Hikaru Shida vs Nyla Rose vs Britt Baker
This started very very slowly and lifelessly, but definitely picked up in the second half. The match was almost perfectly clean until a curb stomp botch at the last minute, but the match did suffer from another dead crowd. I also confess I really don’t understand why we’re supposed to care about Shida and Baker’s friendship. There’s nothing really endearing you to it outside of the babyface connection, so that felt a bit lightweight as well. The action was strong, but it was far from the level it could’ve been with a better crowd
Result- Toni Storm by Pinfall via Roll-Up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
Good promo from Saraya switching between happy friend and vindictive heel. This is a fun dynamic and I am excited to see it unfold at Grand Slam
GOOD Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara Face To Face
This is an odd segment. On the positive side, these guys have great chemistry and there were some really good lines in here. On the other side, there are so many emotional contradictions here. We go from Guevara wanting to be his own man to wanting to win the tag titles, they go from smiling to angry to smiling to angry, and I can;t decide if its complex or confusing. Jericho is a great talker and so I think I fall on it being an overall good promo, but it also feels very messy. Its a shame as Guevara just doesnt feel hot enough for people really to care about him springboarding to the next levels, because his character and promo work is quite drab, and all the best lines here came from Jericho/
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
We get some Steiner maths from MJF backstage on Samoa Joe, which really got a laugh out of me.
AMAZING Hangman Page vs Brian Cage- Watch Match HERE
This was just as great as you expect from what you’ve seen of these guys in their previous encounters. Big moves, fun athleticism, entertaining big guy vs big guy action and the right winner. What more can man require! Interesting that Hangman didn’t win with the Buckshot, wonder if they’re saving that for the Swerve match.
Result: Hangman Page by Pinfall via Dead-Eye
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
GREAT Hangman Page Promo-
This was all very well delivered and entertaining but quite basic as Swerve challenged Hangman for Wrestledream. The highlight of this segment however was Nana dancing before being superkicked by the bucks. The man is a treasure.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Garcia does his dance to fend off Don Callis. Okay then.
GOOD Darby Allin and Nick Wayne vs Angelo Parker and Matt Menard
This is a Rampage match that made its way to Dynamite, having no real story, but happening regardless. It was very good fun, but you would expect nothing less from Darby and Nick who are incredibly exciting wrestlers. The match didn’t have much to it story wise, or anything we haven’t seen before (aside from perhaps the finish) but there are much worse ways to spend 7 minutes. Entertaining if rather unncessesary
Result: Darby Allin by Pinfall via Coffin Drop
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 3.25 Stars
AMAZING Christian Cage Promo
Christian makes a tag match for Grand Slam with Darby and Nick vs him and Luchasaurus which should be fun. Along the way, Christian decides to just cut some absolutely savage lines for the hell of it, with some of the digs he gets in being absolutely brutal. The promo was amazing because he is amazing!
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 4 Stars
GREAT Roderick Strong vs Samoa Joe
This was a very fun main event, but I wanted a bit more from Roddy here to really push it up into the amazing tier. I expected a lot of drama in this final, but instead we got a fairly straightforward but fun wrestling match. What we got with Adam Cole and Samoa Joe at the end was really fun and gave me that storyline progression I wanted, which was extremely entertaining. The match itself though was an appropriate tv main event, without necessarily being a barn burner
Result: Samoa Joe by Submission via Coquina Clutch
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Overall…
This was a fun, if slightly underwhelming episode of Dynamite. As is always expected from Dynamite the in ring action is consistently good to great, and I very much enjoyed the show closing angle and some of the promo work done throughout the night, but something was missing. The crowd felt extremely quiet when the show began, but did improve by the main event, leaving me contemplating whether it was a microphone issue, poor attendance or lack of investment. Storylines did advance well across the show, but I do think the show was missing a really killer talking point coming out the other side, instead settling for a mostly safe approach heading into next weeks event. A very standard show by AEW’s standards, but a decent stepping stone to bigger things.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.25/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – September 13th 2023
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