After one of their most successful Pay-Per-Views in their short history, AEW hoped to continue the momentum on this weeks edition of Dynamite. Big surprises were teased, but could they deliver? Let’s find out.
GREAT: Dynamite opened with the Young Bucks taking on PAC & Penta El Zero, and while it’s completely possible I just missed this announcement going into the show, this match took me by complete surprise. Excalibur revealed that earlier in the day the Young Bucks took out Fenix backstage, so that somewhat explained it. Throughout the match the Bucks attempted to unmask Penta, however when they did it was revealed he had another mask underneath. The finish of the encounter was a confusing one, with Cutler hitting PAC in the leg being enough to put him down for the three count.
RESULT – Young Bucks win via pinfal
Ben Allison WR Star Rating – 4 Stars
GOOD: After the match the tag team champions attempted to unmask Penta again, however Eddie Kingston came out and made the save, after what happened to Moxley at Double Or Nothing. At the end of the segment Kingston was in the ring, alone, with Penta and PAC, and this was extremely awkward considering the history they had together, and Eddie couldn’t even look at them.
GREAT: Tony Schiovane came down to the ring for an interview with AEW’s latest announcer, Mark Henry. Henry revealed he wasn’t here to ‘fix’ AEW, but rather just to help keep the screws turning. Vickie Guerrero then interrupted the two and told them to leave the ring. She then announced AEW’s newest signing was Andrade El Idolo…..however the crowd just continued booing and seemingly didn’t hear what she said which made things a tad awkward. Andrade then came out to a huge pop, and cut a short promo announcing he will be the new face of AEW.
AVERAGE: Anthony Ogogo then got his revenge on Cody Rhodes in a tag match, by knocking him out with a cheap shot, as the illegal man when the referees back was turned, meaning that Ogogo and QT Marshal got the win over Rhodes and Lee Johnson.
RESULT – QT Marshall and Anthony Ogogo win via pinfall
Ben Allison WR Star Rating = 3 Stars
GREAT: Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle then came out to celebrate their triumphant victory at Double Or Nothing. They state that the war between the two factions still isn’t over, and Jericho reveals that he will not stop until he ends MJF the way MJF tried to end him. Hager challenges Wardlow to an ‘MMA Cage’ fight in two weeks time. Possibly the last cinematic match of the pandemic era that we will see in AEW.
GOOD: Backstage Don Callis and Kenny Omega announce that they will expose the conspiracy against them next week as they will air the real footage of what happened at Double Or Nothing. Sami Zayn to AEW confirmed.
AVERAGE: Jungle Boy and Christian teamed up to take on Private Party, who were dressed in suits as they had allegedly just been to the club… The fact they were wearing suits made them look a lot sloppier in the ring. There was nothing bad about this match, but nothing that good with it either. Jungle Boy did fantastic getting the crowd to root for him, but apart from that this match just existed.
RESULT: Jungle Boy and Christian win via submission
Ben Allison WR Star Rating = 3 Stars
GOOD: Backstage Taz cut a promo alongside Team Taz, where Taz challenged Page and a member of the dark order, to take on Cage and Hobbs next week. As Brian Cage’s name was said, Ricky Starks walked out of the room.
GOOD: Sting and Darby Allin came out for an interview with Tony Schiovane. Sting revealed Double Or Nothing was one of the highlights is his career. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page then come on the screen and they made the bold claim that Sting carried Darby Allin to a victory. The heel duo then challenged Darby to a future tag match where he could team with a partner of his choosing, as long as it isn’t Sting.
GOOD: Britt Baker followed this up by coming out for her Championship celebration, hosted by Tony Schiovane. Britt tricked the crowd into thinking they had burger vouchers under their seats, however then revealed that they were all for her as it’s only been her since the beginning. She then let Tony and Rebel both take a burger, before Nyla grabbed them off her and began throwing them into the crowd. Nyla got a fantastic pop from the crowd…..until she started popping the balloons. By the end of this segment the crowd were booing everyone. However Britt’s promo was great as always, truly saving this, and the crowd were extremely invested into the segment.
GOOD: Backstage PAC and Penta are furious at Kingston for helping them earlier, but Eddie reminds them that the enemy of his enemy is his friend.
GOOD: The Bunny took on Red Velvet up next, and Red Velvet looked absolutely phenomenal throughout the match. Allie played the heel role well and for probably the first time in AEW, Velvet came out of a match looking like she could be the next big thing.
RESULT: Red Velvet wins via pinfall
Ben Allison WR Star Rating = 3.25 Stars
GOOD: In the main event Dustin Rhodes took on Nick Comoroto in a Bullrope match. As you’d expect, there was nothing pretty about this match, and honestly, nothing that made it stand out. Both men did a good job, but it wasn’t memorable and was pretty weak for an AEW main event match.
RESULT: Dustin Rhodes wins via pinfall
Ben Allison WR Star Rating = 3.5 Stars
Overall tonight’s episode of Dynamite was definitely a fun one, and one which felt shorter than it was. However the in ring action was once again simply nothing special this week. Definitely a step up from last week, but nowhere near the level it’s usually at. Another issue with this episode was that apart from Britt & Nyla, it didn’t create any new feuds and just continued old ones, despite the usual interest of post PPV episodes being that new feuds have been been created. 7.6/10
