AEW Dynamite - June 21, 2023
by Doc Allen
Live from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Wrestletix thinks there's 6,139 fans in attendance. Our hosts are Tony Shiavone, Excalibur, and Taz.
The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) vs. The Gunn Club (Austin and Colten)
These guys are fighting to prove who the best Brother tag team in AEW is. The Hardys have decades of experience over the Gunns and easily unleash their tandem offense in the early going. Doesn't take Jeff long to botch the Will of the Wisp spot. The Gunns take control while the fans chant "@ss Boys." Matt gets an early hot tag and hits the Twist of Fate, but the Gunns cheat to set up an illegal rope break. The Gunns hit Matt with a DDT, but Jeff tackles the brothers to break the pin. Double DDT by Jeff, followed by a Stunner on Colten. Jeff climbs the ropes, but Juice Robinson's run in distraction allows the Gunns to hit 3:10 to Yuma and win at 7:01. The Hardys looked sadly broken down here, and the Gunns aren't quite where they need to be yet, *½.Winners: The Gunn Club
Bullet Club Gold continue beating down the Hardys until Ricky Starks and FTR run in, but fail to rescue. The building erupts when CM Punk storms in and evens the odds. Jay White slips away from a GTS, leaving Punk, FTR, and Starks behind to stand tall. This sets up the obvious match for Collision.
Concession Stand Brawl:
Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe
Jeff throws some food before the bell, which is simply uncalled for. Mark aggressively goes on offense and smashes a can over Jarrett's spine. Mark throws Jarrett into a propped table, which doesn't quite break. Mark squirts some devastating mustard over Jeff's back, but a masked woman squirts ketchup into his eyes. If you guessed it was Karen Jarrett, you must have suffered through too much TNA. Mark climbs a ladder but another masked figure (Sonjay Dutt) shoves him off and through a table. Back from commercials, Jarrett, Dutt, and Jay Lethal are triple teaming Mark in the ring. Lethal messes with the wrong production guy, who turns out ot be Papa Briscoe, and he takes a chokeslam through a table. Papa Briscoe runs wild until Karen gives him a wind up low blow. Mark recovers with some Redneck Kung Fu on Jarrett. Satnam Singh lumbers in and chokeslams Mark. The babyface lockerroom swarms Singh with superkicks from all directions. Mark superkicks Jarrett and wins at 8:31. I appreciate what they were going for with the campiness and shameless run-ins, but this fell pretty flat for me, *¾.Winner: Mark Briscoe
The Blackpool Combat Club talk to the camera, joined by Tall, Dark, and Sexy Konosuke Takeshita. They challenge The Elite to a 5 on 5 match at Forbidden Door, which will serve as a celebration of wrestling! Bryan Danielson is annoyed that Kazuchika Okada isn't here tonight, which supports his argument that Okada is an amateur.
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki vs. AR Fox, Action Andretti, and Darius Martin
Andretti locks up with Guevara, they reach a stalemate with stereo superkick attempts. Suzuki gleefully tags in to tear Darius up with chops. Suzuki even does Le Sex Gods pose with Jericho. The showboating costs them, as Fox tags in for a corner lariat and dropkick on Jericho. Guevara's interference gives Jericho control in time for some commercials. They return just in time for Andretti's hot tag. He tears into Jericho, who he beat in a singles match some months ago. Suzuki ambushes Andretti with a chicken wing but turns around to murder Darius for breaking it up. Guevara helps with double flying cutters, but Fox is ready for a missile dropkick. Fox hits a springboard back senton to ringside, Andretti nearly steals a pinfall on Jericho. Flying kick and standing SSP by Andretti gets a good nearfall. Darius tags but runs into Sammy's standing Spanish Fly. Suzuki charges in to give Fox a stiff piledriver. Codebreaker on Andretti! Darius hits a leaping DDT on Jericho for 2. Darius gives Jericho a bulldog onto the bottom rope, but his missile dropkick is reversed into a Liontamer! Darius taps at 10:33! Jericho seemed to be having a total ball out there. Super fun match, ***.Winners: Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki
Renee Paquette conducts a post-match interview. Jericho admits that it was momentous for him to share the ring with Sting last week, but it wasn't exciting for him, because Sting is a whore who always works for the highest bidder. Jericho dares Sting and Darby Allin to find a tag partner to face him, Guevara, and Suzuki at Forbidden Door. Sting and Allin arrive right on cue. Sting gets into Jericho's face and trolls him for being so uptight. Sting wants some more time with Chris and accepts his "lame" challenge. Allin reminds Jericho that he's made many enemies over the years, and they'll reveal their partner on Collision.
Tony Shiavone and RJ City hype up the blind Tag Team Tournament.The Elite talk to the camera about The BCC's challenge for Forbidden Door. Hangman Page isn't scared because they have plenty of friends and there are lots of people who hate the BCC. Eddie Kingston pokes his head in, he's willing to look past the time they tried to blow him up because he hates Claudio Castagnoli more. He has a fifth partner in mind and will make his announcement some other time.
Adam Cole comes to the ring with something on his mind. Cole admits that MJF gave him one of the toughest fights of his entire career in their 30 minute draw. Cole didn't win, but neither did MJF, so he calls him out to talk about it. AEW World Champion MJF answers the call and gets a mixed reaction from the fans. He drops several Heel 101 tropes but the fans play along, and denies Cole his rematch. Tony Shiavone interrupts from commentary, both guys tell him to shut up. Tony reveals that Cole and MJF are partners in the Blind Eliminator Tournament, bum dum tss. If this segment wasn't busy enough. Hiroshi Tanahashi appears on the big screen to remind us that he wants MJF at the PPV. Cole taunts MJF as a coward until he accepts. "Good luck, partner." This segment was all kinds of messy, Cole was actually the one holding it all together.
The Owen Hart tournament bracket casually reveals CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima at Forbidden Door.
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia and NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr.
Shibata tangles with ZSJ, and I can't believe this is casually happening on cable TV in 2023. Tempers almost flare, but the ref restores order to send us to commercials. They return with Shibata and ZSJ trading holds. Garcia confidently tags in but Shibata plows through him with strikes. Garcia fires back, and OC tags himself in. They mock each other with some dancing and then Cassidy puts hands in pockets to overwhelm Garcia with a dropkick. ZSJ is amused, but isn't prepared for Cassidy's chain wrestling chops, but manages to snap his neck. ZSJ uses a head scissors to trap Cassidy in his corner. Back from commercials, Cassidy hits a stunner on ZSJ, and Shibata comes in on a fiery hot tag. Shibata no-sells Garcia's kicks and penalty kicks him in the spine. Cassidy encourages Shibata to hit some sloth kicks instead, and the fakeout allows the heroes to hit stereo corner dropkicks. Cassidy dives onto ZSJ, leaving Shibata to give Garcia a Butterfly Suplex for 2. Garcia reverses into the Dragon Slayer, but Shibata counters into a heel hook. ZSJ breaks it up, but Cassidy helps with a tornado DDT. Garcia cleans house until Shibata puts him into a sleeper. Cassidy inadvertently hits Shibata with an Orange Punch, and Garcia steals the pinfall at 16:39. I suppose this means that Shibata will want to take that International Championship off of Cassidy's hands. Overwhelming good match, ***¼.Winners: Daniel Garcia and Zack Sabre Jr.
Looks like we have a 4-way set for Forbidden Door, as everyone jockeys around the International Championship.
Alex Marvez ambushes Will Ospreay for an interview. Will is unimpressed with the uncivilized Canadian fans. Don Callis claims that Ospreay's heat in Canada is due to Kenny Omega instigating his countrymen to violence. Callis offers his services to Ospreay, he just wants to see a fair fight at Forbidden Door.
Video package hyping up an eventual showdown between AEW Women's Champion Toni Storm and Willow Nightingale.
TBS Championship:
Kris Statlander © vs. Taya Valkyrie
Bold choice for the main event slot, but this works for me. The fans are behind Statlander as she showcases her strength early on. Taya answers with open hand slaps, but Statlander returns fire and hits a handstand leg drop. Taya no-sells and hits a knee strike to the face, but Kris floors her for a SSP from the apron. Taya no-sells again and catches Kris with a dropkick in the ropes. Back from commercials, we learn that both women suffered stereo KO shots to the head. Statlander nails the Falcon Arrow for 2. Taya hits a double underhook sitout bomb for 2. Statlander nails a discus lariat for another 2 count. Taya hits a spear and sits Kris in the ropes for a sliding German suplex! Kris no-sells to pop up for a superplex. Tombstone by Statlander gets 3 at 8:55. Just a bunch of spots, I feel like this is the match that many internet trolls pretend to be watching every week, **.
Winner and still TBS Champion: Kris Statlander
I'm sorry, I thought the last match was going to get 20-ish minutes, our real main event segment is Eddie Kingston's reveal of The Elite's fifth member against The BCC. Eddie can't stand Claudio Castgagnoli, and this has split his friendship with Jon Moxley, who storms in through the crowd. Moxley accuses Eddie of drawing a line between them, but Eddie passionately argues that Moxley did it himself by teaming up with "that scumbag" Castagnoli. Eddie reveals The Elite's fifth man to be Tomohiro Ishi, which leads to the BCC hitting the ring to clean house. Bryan Danielson threatens to stomp Ishii's face in unless Okada shows up, and he gets his wish when the Rainmaker himself appears for a stand-off. Yuta ruins the stand-off with an ambush on Okada, and heel Daneilson misses the running knee, but dodges the Rainmaker lariat. Okada settles for a Rainmaker on Yuta instead, and the fans are okay with it.
Final Thoughts: This episode was kind of a dud as all the cool stuff is happening later this weekend. Not bad, but still a pass.
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