AEW Dynamite
October 28, 2020
by Samoa Rowe
Dasha tries to interview Wardlow about his chances of becoming AEW World Champion, but MJF talks over him. MJF insists that since Wardlow is under contract to him, he'll actually become champion due to having property rights. Andrew Yang might want to check out this abuse of an independent contractor. Sammy Guevara interrupts, as he's upset about MJF's recent disrespect and threatens him.
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley talks about his upcoming "I Quit" match with Eddie Kingston. This is a personal issue to Moxley, and states there is no room for "this Eddie Kingston" in AEW. Moxley will crush Eddie's ego, so he better protect his neck.
Eddie Kingston comes to the ring with Butcher, Blade, and Bunny. They spend about 3 seconds recapping that Bunny rejoined Butcher and Blade after it was revealed she had maxed out QT Marshall's credit cards. I guess enough of us complained online so we got our explanation. Eddie wants to send a message by defeating "The Joker" from the Casino Battle Royal that he was never eliminated from and calls out Matt Sydal.
Earlier today, Excalibur interviewed Young Bucks, and FTR via Zoom. Matt Jackson is offended by questions about his bad knee and insists he'll be ready for Full Gear. FTR aren't concerned about having a dream match with the Bucks, they just want to hold on to the titles and prove that they're the best. Excalibur questions the Bucks' character after recent events. Matt says they're not proud of what they've done, but admit they've been frustrated over their lack of success over the past year, and FTR have pushed them over the edge. FTR are offended about the focus on the Bucks and walk off. The interview continues with the Bucks revealing that if they don't win the titles at Full Gear, they'll never challenge for them again.
Tony Shiavone and Dasha host the Inner Circle's town hall, to decide if MJF will join or not. All concerned parties are in the ring and are taking questions from the roster. Luchasaurus wants to know how MJF will continue the financial superiority of the Inner Circle. MJF conveniently has a chart showing that earnings are up since he got involved. Britt Baker asks Jericho about MJF's terrible track record with friendships. Jericho says he isn't a dipsh!t like Cody, so MJF won't be able to turn on him without getting his teeth knocked out. Peter Avalon wants to join the Inner Circle, which only makes the group laugh. Eric Bischoff compares MJF to Kennedy and asks what can he do for the Inner Circle. MJF only offers friendship. Bischoff follows up with what can the Inner Circle do for him? MJF explains he wants to learn to be a team player. Jericho gets fired up when Eric calls him a "primadonna" and Shiavone has to silence him. Eric suggests that if Jericho and MJF will eventually kill each other. MJF gets upset, as he feels he's proven himself, so what more can he do? Jericho suggests that MJF face him at Full Gear, and if he wins he can join them. MJF likes this and says he'll do anything to win. Ortiz has heard enough and challenges MJF and Wardlow to a tag match next week.
Last night on Dark, Will Hobbs picked up an impressive victory, which caught the attention of Team Taz, who badly want to recruit him.
The lumberjacks continue brawling, and for some reason it's up to Billy and Austin Gunn to clear our the Dark Order. Darby Allin watches on from the stands. This segment lost me.
Best Friends try to talk down Kip Sabian and Miro backstage, and Penelope Ford distracts with a gift offering. Miro and Sabian throw Best Friends through a door and beat them into a heap, while Miro vows to never forgive them. Yes, this feud is based on a broken arcade machine, and I'm strangely okay with it.
Backstage interview with AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida. Nyla Rose is refusing to wrestle again until she gets a title match, and Shida eagerly challenges her at Full Gear.
Spears is heckled by a guy in a bull mask, so he understandably drags him into the ring for a beating. Spears looks for his steel slug, but the masked man reveals himself to be Scorpio Sky, and he drops Spears with a TKO.
Final Thoughts: Overall, a strong episode of Dynamite. I was confused by which cast members got involved with Cody vs. Cassidy, and while I appreciated the effort of Deeb vs. Hirsch, I have to wonder why more women in AEW aren't allowed the time to get themselves over outside of the ring the same way the men are. AEW have signed a massive number of women to contracts, and it feels like most of them appear on Dynamite once every other month, with little character development outside of Britt. Otherwise, I really liked the setup to Jericho vs. MJF, as they took a novel approach to their PPV showdown, with more twists and turns than just announcing a match and then spending weeks costing each other wins or something like that. The true success stories tonight are Kenny Omega looking like his New Japan self and Hangman Page rising to be a worthy adversary. The Full Gear card came together easily, which is a testament to the strength of AEW's week-to-week booking. Thumbs Up.
The Wardlow (with MJF) vs. Hangman Adam Page
Page is billed as "emotionally unavailable" but starts hot with a shotgun dropkick. Wardlow muscles him into the buckles. Page dropkicks Wardlow off the apron, his dive is blocked, but he saves face with a shove into the post. Wardlow hits a nasty spear (that looks a bit like a spinebuster) through the steel rail! Page barely beats the countout, but Wardlow meets him with a power slam for 2. Wardlow continues to dominate but cannot win with a gut-wrench powerbomb. Wardlow looks for a top rope chokeslam, but Page reverses into a hanging armbreaker over the ropes. Wardlow's arm looks damaged, but he suplexes Page back into the ring. Wardlow misses a cool looking Swanton Bomb! Page makes a scrappy comeback, blocks a German, and clotheslines to ringside. Tope rope moonsault by Page! Wardlow blocks the Buckshot and hits a clothesline for a good 2 count. Wardlow hits a labored F10 and Page rolls to safety. Page blocks another super chokeslam and hits a superplex. Page hits two Buckshot Lariats and wins at 9:48! Strong gutsy babyface performance by Page, Wardlow didn't look as sharp as he did in the Jungle Boy match, ***.
Winner: Hangman Adam Page
Eddie Kingston vs. Matt Sydal
Despite his bluster, Eddie hesitates to lock up. They trade wrist holds and hammerlocks. Sydal ducks a chop and hits his own. Sydal builds some momentum and hits a running dropkick into the corner. Eddie hits some hard elbow shots and plants Sydal for an elbow drop. They go to commercial. They return with Sydal showing signs of life with stiff kicks to Kingston's face. Sydal hits a leaping rana and Meteora! Eddie kicks out! Eddie cuts him off with a nasty knee lift and swinging back hand. Eddie wins with Moxley's Bulldog Choke at 8:12. Average match, Eddie needed a quicker win to convince the audience that he belongs in a PPV World title match, **.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
TNT Championship (Lumberjack Match):
OC looks for an instant Superman Punch and blocks Cross Rhodes. Cassidy urgently goes for a headlock takedown. Cody breaks free with a strong arm drag into the corner. Cody avoids a backslide and sucker punches the gut. Delayed front suplex by Cody, who shows off with pushups. Coach Arn doesn't like that one bit. OC capitalizes with a vertical suplex. OC misses a dive, but Best Friends shield him from the lumberjacks. Cody ambushes with a dragon screw leg sweep in the ropes. OC drops Cody onto Best Friends, who casually drop him onto the concrete. Flying crossbody by OC, but Cody counters a tornado DDT. OC blocks a Figure Four and nails the swinging DDT for 2. Cody blocks a senton and they spill to ringside, just in time for a commercial. Back from break, the lumberjacks get into a brawl, which sets up Cody's superplex onto the field! Cassidy looks to be in a daze, but hits a thrust kick, so Cody spins him with a clothesline. OC counters into a stunner and hits a diving DDT. Cassidy hits a makeshift Gory Bomb of sorts for a great nearfall. The Dark Order interrupt, and John Silver drops Cassidy with a pump kick, and Cody gets the easy pinfall at 12:10. Good action on display, but that finish kind of rendered it all pointless, **¾.
Winner and still TNT Champion: Cody
Cody © (with Arn Anderson) vs. Orange Cassidy (with Best Friends)NWA Women's Championship:
Deeb is only 24 hours removed from decrowning Thunder Rosa of the NWA Women's title. They start with some urgent chain wrestling, and Deeb throws some arm drags. Deeb hit a shoulder block but then runs into a Hirsch clothesline. Hirsch hits double knees in the buckles, immediately followed with a slingshot dropkick. Hirsch misses a head of steam and Deeb delivers a hanging neckbreaker between the ropes. Hirsch kicks the arm repeatedly and pulls Deeb into a cross armbreaker. Hirsh is in full control and dissects the arm as they cut to commercial. Back from break, Deeb's comeback is cut off by Hirsch's German suplex. Hirsch misses a moonsault, and Deeb makes her pay with a spinning neckbreaker. Deeb's Stretch Muffler finishes at 8:39. Not sure that commercial was necessary, I suspect this match was taped for Dark and added to Dynamite last minute (Tay Conti vs. Abadon was scrapped due to Abadon suffering a brutal injury). Still, both women showed a lot here, **½.
Serena Deeb © vs. Leyla Hirsch
Winner and still NWA Women's Champion: Serena Deeb
Shawn Spears (with Tully Blanchard) vs. VSK
Spears is on a 10 match winning streak, so AEW is begrudgingly putting him back on Dynamite. Spears immediately hits the C4 and casually pins VSK at 0:25. That's one way to keep viewers from turning to NXT.
Winner: Shawn Spears
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament:
Penta is subbing for Fenix, who was injured in their match last week. Kenny's dancers are wearing Lucha Bros. masks, which makes for cute mind games. Kenny isn't taking Penta very seriously early on, and lifts up his Street Fighter t-shirt to reveal the AAA title he won from Penta months ago. He lays the belt down and they trade chops. Kenny slaps Penta with his own glove and then unleashes a flurry of quick strikes. Kenny gets overconfident and Penta catches him off guard with an open hand slap. Backstabber by Penta sends Kenny rolling to safety, but Penta makes him pay with a soaring plancha. They spend a commercial break brawling through the wrestler crowd. Back to the ring, Omega counters with a rana, which sets up a plancha. Penta answers with a diving crossbody to ringside. Penta's springboard DDT gets 2. Penta follows with a tree of woe double stomp. Omega fires back with a pair of snap dragon suplexes. V-Trigger by Omega, powerbomb, and running penalty kick gets a good nearfall. Penta blocks One Winged Angel only for Omega to hit a round house kick to his head. Running V-Trigger by Penta, but his superplex onto the stage is blocked. Instead, Penta hits a DESTROYER onto the ramp! Package Piledriver by Penta but KENNY KICKS OUT! Penta manages an enziguri, but Omega pops up for a V-Trigger. One Winged Angel is reversed into a deep armbar. Penta snaps the arm in sickening fashion, but Omega throws chops with his good arm. Superkick by Penta, but he springboards into another V-Trigger! One Winged Angel finishes at 17:17! Simply tremendous main event, these guys make it look easy, ****.
Penta El Zero M (with Rey Fenix) vs. Kenny Omega
Winner: Kenny Omega
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