home | wrestling | flashback_reviews | aew

AEW Dynamite
February 5, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

From the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur.

Jon Moxley vs. Ortiz (with The Inner Circle)

Jericho, Guevara, and Hager hang out at commentary while Santana hovers around ringside). Moxley gets a hot start and forces Ortiz to regroup with his partner. Moxley chases Ortiz back in with a chair, but Santana grabs his ankle to allow Ortiz to hit an enziguri and falling headbutt. Ortiz slows the pace while dishing out a beatdown. Moxley absorbs a spinebuster and pops up to apply a Figure Four. Ortiz thumbs Moxley's bad eye to escape! Moxley tosses Ortiz and hits Santana with a dive, leaving himself vulnerable for Ortiz to smash him into the rails. Moxley answers with a power slam for 2. Ortiz thumbs the bad eye again and nails a cannonball plancha through the ropes. Frog splash by Ortiz gets 2, as does a Fisherman suplex. Moxley desperately blocks a flying axe handle and hits a clothesline. Ortiz accidentally knocks Santana off the apron and Moxley hits the Paradigm Shift for the win at 7:46. This was fine, I appreciated Moxley's bad eye being a factor throughout, **½.
Winner: Jon Moxley

Santana ambushes Moxley after the bell, only to suffer a Paradigm Shift for his trouble. Fans chant "Moxley" loudly. Moxley reveals the keys to the expensive car he stole from Jericho, and signals "Eye for an eye" before jamming the pointy end into Santana's eye socket! The fans LOVE THIS! Moxley escapes into his adoring audience before the Inner Circle can do anything about it.

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent, with Orange Cassidy) vs. SCU (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky)

Christopher Daniels is conspicuous by his absence. Kazarian and Trent start things off with a clean wrestling contest. Tempers soon flare and they trade chops. Best Friends hit double elbow drops on Kazarian. Sky tags in but gets caught in Taylor's wristlock. Taylor misses a moonsault, and Sky scores a high dropkick. Best Friends attempt to isolate Kazarian, who saves himself with a guillotine leg drop. Sky catches Taylor with a cutter, and whips Trent into the rail, but Trent pops up for a spear. They trade power moves at ringside until only Orange Cassidy is left standing. Cassidy amusingly lays down with them for a nap to send us to commercial. Back from break, Kazarian counters Trent with a mid-air backstabber. Sky double stomps Trent's back (apparently Trent got hurt during the break). Fans chant "This is awesome" after Kazarian's swinging DDT. Taylor shields Trent from a hard Irish whip, and they hit Kazarian with a Sole Food/German combo. Sky saves Kazarian from another double team move, and Kazarian uses his body's momentum to hit a powerbomb for the win at 9:04. A disproportionate amount of the match took place during a commercial, so this could have shaved off a few minutes and had the same effect, **½.
Winners: SCU

The Dark Order swarm the ring to beat up SCU and the fans actually boo them! They're standing tall when Orange Cassidy nonchalantly rolls into the ring with them. Evil Uno offers a mask to Cassidy, and the crowd plays along with "NO NO NO" chants. Cassidy rejects via hands in pocket, so they beat him up too. Christopher Daniels runs in and the Dark Order backs off immediately, which is sure to raise some questions.

Earlier today, Tazz predicts that it's going to be difficult watching Cody take 10 lashes from MJF.

Dr. Britt Baker vs. Yuka Sakazaki

Sakazaki is billed as a "Magical Girl" and is dressed a bit like a genie. She reverses Britt's wristlock, prompting the good doctor to club her in the face and choke with her boot. Running boot to the face by Baker gets 2. Sakazaki answers with a rana and flying seated senton. Yuka hits a "magical girl splash" off the middle top rope. Basement clothesline by Sakazaki gets 2. Britt cuts Yuka off with a thrust kick and hits a suplex for 2. Yuka avoids Lockjaw and rolls Britt up for the win at 3:26! Match was a bit disjointed, but Sakazaki got herself over nicely, **.
Winner: Yuka Sakazaki

Britt is furious and wraps the jaw of Sakazaki around the rope and stomps the back of the head! Yuka lost what I hope is a fake tooth in the attack! Yuka is bleeding from the mouth as Britt applies the Lockjaw.

The Butcher and Blade (with The Bunny) and Lucha Bros. (Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix) vs. The Elite (AEW Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson))

Page charges ahead of his stablemates and aggressively starts the match with hard chops on the Blade. The Elite swarm the Blade with quick tags and tandem offense. The Butcher's save attempt backfires as he eats a triple dropkick. The Elite pop the crowd with a dive, and Lucha Bros. have finally had enough and storm the ring to cut off their momentum. Fenix hits a high dive to send us to commercial. Back from break, and Nick is making a one man comeback against his four opponents. Hot tag to Matt, who catches Fenix with rolling Northern Lights suplexes, with a final suplex on both Lucha Bros.! Fenix steps off Omega's shoulders to hit an arm drag on Matt. Backstabber by Pentagon Jr, and Fenix slams Matt while holding Omega in place for Pentagon's dive onto the groin. Butcher hits a backbreaker on Omega. Blade thrusts Omega gut first into Butcher's knee. Omega hits Butcher with a rana and Page gets a hot tag! Fans chant "cowboy sh!t" as Page clears the ring and hits a dive. Belly to belly suplex on Pentagon and Page follows with a top rope moonsault onto the field! Page's lariat on Pentagon gets 2. The Elite swarm Pentagon in the turnbuckles, and the match breaks down with all 8 guys hitting drive by attacks in the ring. Pentagon leaps off Butcher's back to hit a destroyer! Omega dishes out snap Dragon suplexes. Butcher blocks the Dragon, but suffers a SUPERKICK PARTY instead. Young Bucks hit Sliced Bread on Butcher, and Page tags himself in. Page misses a lariat, but Omega and the Bucks throw another SUPERKICK PARTY! Page catches Blade with the buckshot lariat and Butcher with a fallaway slam. Page refuses to tag in the Jacksons, and turns around to suffer Lucha Bros' Foot Stomp/Penta-driver combo. Fenix wipes the Bucks out with a sick dive, and Pentagon pins Page at 13:25. This was a great display of insanity after the commercial, ***¾.
Winners: Lucha Bros. and The Butcher and Blade

The Young Bucks are irate with Page, forcing Omega to play peacemaker. Page storms away and takes a beer from a fan.

After a break, Tony Shiavone hosts Kenny Omega in the ring. Before he can ask any questions, Pac interrupts from backstage. He has Riho backed into a corner and threatens violence if Omega won't agree to face him. Omega immediately agrees to a match. Pac says he wouldn't put his hands on a woman because he's not a beast... but "she is." Nyla Rose ambushes Riho and powerbombs her onto a table.

Darby Allin video package. He's outdoors in the dark, and can't speak after taking a skateboard to the throat at the hands of the Inner Circle. He has the cut-out of Jericho and Guavara hugging and sets it on fire.

Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) vs. Joey Janela

Janela overwhelms Sabian with clubbing blows and puts the boot to the neck. Sabian fights back and hits a leg lariat. Janela comes back with knife edge chops and a back suplex. Janela waves to Ford and no-sells Sabian's kick to the back. Janela hits a kick of his own and sits himself down to dare Sabian to do it again. Instead, Sabian applies a chinlock. Janela dropkicks the knees, but Sabian dropkicks him off the apron onto the steps. Ford knocks Janela into the steps as well, and it's time for a commercial. Back from break, Sabian hits a draping cutter for 2. Janela comes back with a tope suicida. Janela lets Ford distract him again and eats Sabian's penalty kick. Janela counters Sabian's springboard dive with a German suplex at ringside! YEESH! Hard clothesline by Janela gets 2. Hook kick by Janela, but Sabian answers with a series of knee strikes. Janela surprises with a nasty DVD for a great nearfall. DDT by Sabian, and Ford offers a kiss for encouragement. Janela inadvertently knocks Ford off the apron, but Sabian rolls him up with a handful of tights for the win at 11:16! This had good intensity throughout, and Janela sold his hatred well. The f*ckery at the end suggests the feud must continue, ***.
Winner: Kip Sabian

The Inner Circle are gathered around Santana as he receives medical attention to his newly injured eye. Jericho is livid and vows payback on Moxley. Santana says he's had the worst month of his life, but Moxley's attack will only bring out a new side of him. Santana wants Moxley in the ring next week, and we can only assume the loser will be completely blinded when it's over.

Dark Order PSA. Ask your doctor if the Dark Order is right for you.

The Young Bucks confront Hangman Page again backstage. Page is now sporting an entire pitcher of beer for comfort, as he does seem somewhat bothered by the Bucks calling him out.

Earlier today, Dustin Rhodes commented on his brother, Cody, having to take 10 lashes from MJF. Dustin knows his brother is tougher than MJF thinks and he can do this.

MJF and Wardlow come to the ring for the main event segment, as it's time for Cody to receive his 10 lashes. Cody arrives in a suit and slowly undresses during the commercial to expose his back. MJF thinks his own belt is too good to touch Cody, and demands that he uses Cody's belt instead. Crowd chants "@sshole." Cody doesn't back down and hands his belt to MJF. Cody is ready, and flinches when MJF snaps the belt behind his ears. MJF is being an amazing d!ck here. MJF serves the first lash and stalls for time as the stage fills up with heel wrestlers to watch the show. MJF hits the second lash, which really bothers Cody and he turns around and teases an attack before remembering he's not allowed to touch him. The third lash knocks Cody off his feet. Arn Anderson arrives on the scene for moral support. MJF talks a ton of smack before finally hitting the fourth lash. Cody refuses to quit and flexes, but the fifth lash sends him down. Dustin Rhodes has seen enough and offers to take the rest of the lashes. MJF says it has to be Cody and orders him out of his ring. Dustin has an emotional chat with Cody before leaving. MJF hits the sixth and seventh lashes in rapid fashion. The Young Bucks arrive to join the Cody Support Group. Cody defiantly locks eyes with MJF and takes the eighth lash in the small of the back. Cody sells more agony and flips the bird. Wardlow steps in to serve the ninth lash. Cody collapses and MJF interprets it as forfeit. Brandi Rhodes arrives and wills her husband up, and he is holding back tears. MJF hits the final lash across the chest, and Cody's friends tend to him. MJF sneaks in low blow kick and runs away through the crowd. I'm pretty stunned by how well this angle came off in terms of putting lava hot heat on MJF and portraying Cody as an emotional, but tough man. Now, the pressure is really on for them to deliver in the ring at Revolution.

Final Thoughts: I think I'm going to remember this edition of Dynamite for a long time.

back to AEW Index