AEW Dynamite: April 24, 2024
by Doc Allen
Live from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. WresteTix estimates attendance at 2,244. Tony Shiavone, Excalibur, and Taz are on commentary.
The New Elite arrive in style, draped in their newly won belts from Dynasty. They've got Jack Perry in tow. Security doesn't want to let Perry into the venue, but get overruled by the Young Bucks.
Orange Cassidy's music hits, but he gets thrown onto the stage by evil Trent Beretta. He summons Chuck Taylor to force him to pick a side. Trent regrets not turning on OC earlier, he was supposed to be the Best Friends' mascot, but instead they became his lackeys. Chuck quickly makes his decision, clocking Trent in the head with the mic. Looks like we're getting another Parking Lot brawl.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley talks to the camera. He is going to remind the world just who he is.
Eliminator Match:
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana) vs. ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher (with Don Callis)
Fans chant for Swerve while they trade holds. I feel like the sound is off, I can hear every footstep on the canvas. Swerve builds some momentum and hits a flying uppercut. Swerve takes a hard landing at ringside, but Nana's distraction allows him to deliver a brutal back body drop. Back from commercials, Swerve maintains control with a backbreaker. Kyle traps the arm, slaps the head, and hits a pump kick. Meanwhile, cameras catch The New Elite strolling into Tony Khan's office. More importantly, Swerve hits a cutter on the ring frame. Kyle doesn't move, so the champ follows with a Swerve Stomp. Strickland may have rolled his ankle in the process. Kyle smells blood and locks on a heel hook. Swerve survives, they trade rapid counters until the champ hits a flatliner and brainbuster for only 2. Fletcher reverses into a spinning Tombstone for a good nearfall. Don signals for Kyle to get some plunder, but Kyle decides to try a superplex instead. Strickland blocks into a Tree of Woe Swerve Stomp, Kyle kicks out! Swerve kicks the back of the skull and wins at 14:44. Personally, I would have had Kyle lay down for the extra brutal Swerve Stomp, I don't think letting someone of his stature kick out of the new champion's finisher is productive. Still a good match, ***.Winner: Swerve Strickland
Renee Paquette chats with Thunder Rosa about coming up short at Dynasty. Deonna Purrazzo interrupts and starts a shoving contest.
Mina Shirakawa (with Mariah May) vs. Anna Jay
Anna is bursting with confidence and looks happy to be performing at Daily's Place again. Rina dropkicks the knee and spine in quick succession. Rina goes to work on Anna's knee. Enziguri by Rina gets 2. Anna wasn't selling the knee injury, so Rina restarts her attack. Anna quickly escapes a Figure Four, rakes the eyes, and hits a neckbreaker over the ropes. Back from commercials, Anna is still showing no signs of knee pain, Rina makes a comeback. Rina hits a clunky avalanche knee strike to the arm. Anna hits a buster for 2. Anna quickly escapes another Figure Four, so Rina hits a missile dropkick and enziguri. Anna answers with the Queenslayer, but Rina folds her up for the upset pin at 9:01. Match was kind of a disaster due to Anna completely no-selling the damage her knees, not to mention the dead crowd, *¼.Winner: Mina Shirakawa
Sore loser Anna puts Mariah May into the Queenslayer, but Toni Storm rushes out for the rescue (to a nice "Toni!" chant). Serena Deeb appears on the stage and sits next to Toni's Women's Championship, suggesting it ought to be her's. Lots going on here.
Stokely Hathaway and Kris Statlander introduce new TBS Champion Willow Nightingale to the fans. Kris recites a cheesy poem about how great Willow is, even Stokely hates it. The audio issues continue, I can barely understand what anyone is saying, and I miss the name of the guest rapper performing Willow's music. I gather that Willow is calling herself the Face of TBS, which brings out Mercedes Mone for a rebuttal. Willow is sincerely apologetic about injuring Mercedes not too long ago, but this only makes Mercedes angry. They'll meet for the TBS title at Double or Nothing. Mercedes tries to leave, Kris grabs her shoulder, but Mercedes thinks it was Willow and slaps the taste from her mouth. Mercedes slips away before anything else can happen.
Alex Marvez asks The New Elite if Jack Perry has been reinstated in AEW, no one wants to talk to him, except Matthew Jackson. If I could understand what Matthew said, I'd tell you.
Recap of Jack Perry ripping up his AEW contract at a New Japan show, then later returning at Dynasty to help The Young Bucks win the Tag Team Championship.
Casino Gauntlet Match:
Winner faces Roderick Strong for the International title at Double or Nothing. Jay White and Dante Martin are the first competitors. The match rules are confusing, it's "Sudden Death" with more competitors entering later, but if Jay or Dante scored a pinfall now, it would be over. They start with a standard opening exchange. Jay sidesteps a dive and soon hits an exploder over the ropes. Penta El Zero Miedo joins the match at about 2:00. I guess this is like a Royal Rumble that ends with a pinfall and just keeps adding participants until someone wins? Back from commercials, Kyle O'Reilly joins the party and gets to run wild. Will Ospreay is out at 8:00 to a monster pop. He finds Kyle for a slugfest. Dante and Penta work together but Ospreay hits them with a back handspring kick. White tries an ambush, but Will is ready for him. Lance Archer's arrival interrupts Will's pinfall attempt, and he chokeslams Dante onto White. Archer throws Ospreay onto everyone at ringside. Back from more commercials, Komander is here to take komand of the situation. He puts Archer through a pair of tables with a rana. White tries to finish Ospreay, but eats a Liger Bomb for 2. Jay Lethal joins the fun, attacking Ospreay. I'll give them credit, instead of this being a typical Rumble with the ring filling with guys punching and kicking, it's more like a Scramble match with guys selling at ringside and picking their spots to hit false finishers. Makes for a good pace. Anyways, Komander hits a springboard SSP, but Ospreay ambushes with a hidden blade to win at 18:43. Confusing rules made it hard to get into this until things became more clear as time went by. It helps that Ospreay is mad over and his victory was well received, **½.Winner: Will Ospreay
The Undisputed Kingdom arrive and try to intimidate Ospreay, who fearlessly gets into Roderick Strong's face.
New FTW Champion Chris Jericho comes out to annoy the fans. For now on, FTW stands for "For the World" because Jericho won this belt for all of us! Terry Funk once told Jericho it was his responsibility to teach the next generation of pro wrestling, so that's what "The Learning Tree" version of Jericho is doing. Big Bill interrupts because he's in search of Jericho's guidance. Jericho isn't sure, so Bill sets out to prove himself.
Renee Paquette is standing by with the Don Callis Family. There's some kind of tension brewing between Ospreay and Don, even though things are going well, and Don doesn't want to hear anything from Kyle Fletcher after his loss. Again, it's hard to hear what anyone is saying tonight, so bear with me.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship:
Jon Moxley © vs. Powerhouse Hobbs (with Don Callis)
They skip the feeling out process and just starting hitting each other. Mox hits an early German, but Hobbs pops up and nails his own suplex. They brawl through the crowd. Back from commercials, Hobbs is firmly in the driver's seat and grabs a Bear Hug. Hobbs misses a head of steam and bonks his knee into the ropes. Mox delivers a tope suicida, Hobbs is selling his knee like death (hope Anna Jay is taking notes). Mox unloads a flurry of punches and hits the Paradigm Shift for only 2. The Bulldog Choke finishes it at 10:52. Huh, I was expecting more fight from Hobbs in this one. Moxley gets a straightforward win in a match where there were no doubts about the result, **.Winner and still IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Jon Moxley
Konosuke Takeshita appears on the stage to send Mox a message. This would be an enticing addition to Double or Nothing.
Renee Paquette chats with Katsuyori Shibata. He uses Google Translate to promise to cut down The Learning Tree in Winnipeg and take the FTW title.
Tony Shiavone hosts Jack Perry in the ring. Jack says he's had some of the best nights of his life in Jacksonville, but tonight he's all business. He demands and gets Tony Khan. Jack insists that through all the ups and downs he's only ever wanted the best for AEW. He wants TK to shake his hand and reinstate him. Tony doesn't hesitate to do so, which puts a smug grin on Jack's face. He thanks TK with a cheap shot to the chest, prompting The New Elite to rush in for a presumed rescue. Instead, the Bucks give TK a Meltzer Driver! The fans give them the heat they're looking for. Refs and medics check on Tony while Kazuchika Okada stands around giving his approval. Good angle, they've kept Khan from getting physical up to this point, so this means something.
Final Thoughts: I was imaging a better show in my mind after Dynasty than what this Dynamite delivered. The main event angle provides some intrigue for What Happens Next, which definitely helps. I like that AEW isn't wasting time setting up matches for Double or Nothing, most of which look really good on paper. Kind of a slight show, with new champion Swerve Strickland not having any mission statement, and a long, confusing faux-Rumble taking up lots of airtime. Recommendation to skip and catch highlights on Youtube.
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