AEW Dynamite 200- August 2, 2023
by Doc Allen
Live from the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. WrestleTix estimates attendance at 4,215. Our hosts are Tony Shiavone, Excalibur, and Taz.
Chris Jericho and Konosuke Takeshita (with Don Callis) vs. The JAS (Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia)
Sammy takes a shoulder block from Jericho and immediately kips up. They exchange chops, Guevara scores a dropkick and knee lift. Tag to Garcia, who takes time to pose with Sammy before trading chops with Jericho. More dancing by Garcia gets a babyface reaction from the fans. Tag to Takeshita, who doesn't find this funny and takes control of Garcia. Back from commercials, Garcia tries to fight past Jericho for a tag. Garcia botches getting his knees up to block the Lionsault. Sammy gets the hot tag and soars in with a crossbody onto Jericho. Sammy clears the rings and sprints into consecutive dives onto Jericho and Takeshita. Frog splash by Sammy, Jericho breaks the pin. Garcia blindsides Jericho while Takeshita hits Sammy with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Takeshita borrows the Liontamer, Sammy escapes for a standing Spanish Fly. Tag to Garcia, who walks into a surprise Codebreaker. Sammy helps with a SSP onto Takeshita outside. Meanwhile, Garcia blocks the Judas Effect and locks on the Dragon Slayer. Don breaks it up with a bat shot to Daniel's head. Jericho doesn't like what Don did but settles for the pinfall at 12:23. Standard TV match that drummed up some excitement after the break, ***.Winners: Chris Jericho and Konosuke Takeshita
Tony Khan talks to the camera, hyping up the 200th episode of Dynamite and the upcoming ALL IN event at Wembley Stadium. This leads to a pretty cool video package highlighting memorable Dynamite moments from the first 4 years.
Renee Paquette tries to get a word with Chris Jericho, but Matt Menard interrupts. I can't understand what he's saying, but it sure does sound like an ultimatum.
Tony Shiavone hosts a confrontation between FTW Champion Jack Perry and Jerry Lynn. Lynn is smart enough to not risk his health getting into the ring, instead he's called in his old friend, ROB VAN DAM, to handle him. Looks like Tony Khan opened his wallet again, but RVD comes out to "Walk" by Pantera. Perry slips away and then tries a chair ambush, nearly resulting in a Van Daminator. Perry slips away for good, while RVD stands tall.
Hard working video package makes Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm feel main event worthy for later tonight.
Anything Goes Match:
Trent Beretta vs.Penta El Zero Miedo (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. Jon Moxley
Trent greets Moxley with a dive and then politely stands still so Penta can dive onto him. Moxley recovers with a lariat on Trent. Penta interrupts with a trash can. Moxley surprises Penta with a cutter and brings in a wired 2x4. Penta disarms Moxley and hits a backstabber. Trent interrupts Fear Factor with a lid assisted dropkick. Mox thanks him by rubbing barbed wire across his forehead. Moxley gives Trent a piledriver onto the 2x4, Trent no sells for a back suplex onto the 2x4 as well. Penta sets Trent onto some tables, but Mox interrupts with more wire to the mouth. These guys keep interrupting moves that would seriously damage an opponent, not smart. Trent sprints up to superplex Mox through the ringside tables. Back from commercials, Penta sets Trent on a new table, this time Mox stands back and watches while Penta hits a Destroyer through the table. Moxley is ready to tackle Penta through another table. Mox dumps thumbtacks everywhere and gives Penta a piledriver for only 2. Moxley powerbombs Penta onto the tacks and blocks Trent's cutter. Trent no-sells and gives Mox Code Red onto the tacks. Fans chant “Fight forever!” All three guys stumble up for a mean brawl. Paradigm Shift on Petna, but Trent hits Moxley with a flying knee and steals the pinfall at 12:45. I still can't find a reason why I should care about this feud, so the violence is wasted on me. There were some narrative hiccups that dragged this down a bit too, **¾.Winner: Trent Beretta
The Blackpool Combat Club arrive to help Moxley serve some revenge and fight past Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor. Trent helps his (best) friends with a dive, and Claudio Castagnoli seems to get knocked loopy by a chair shot. Orange Punch on Moxley! Chuck Taylor grabs a mic and challenges the BCC to meet them in Daily's Place for a parking lot brawl on Rampage.
Renee Paquette interviews Rob Van Dam backstage. RVD explains he came to AEW because he heard Jack Perry running his mouth and wants a shot at the FTW Championship.
AEW World Champion MJF comes to the ring for some words. He greets the Devil Worshippers in the building and gets serious by talking about his ADHD and rejection-sensitive disorder. MJF has blacked out most of the trauma in his past, but he still remembers the time bullies threw quarters at him and called him anti-semitic names. MJF coped by becoming an evil bastard and became a scumbag. He says it's easy to get fans to hate him, but it's hard to be vulnerable. Max isn't scared anymore, and it's because of the fans, who care about "Max. MJF doesn't pretend that he'll change overnight, he may be a scumbag, but he's OUR scumbag. The fans eat this up hook, line, and sinker. MJF introduces his friend who taught him how to trust again, Adam Cole. Cole is impressed by MJF, and admits that he also spent years acting like a jerk because he was scared. MJF teases giving Adam another shot at the AEW title, but he's been thinking, and he doesn't deserve a match. Just kidding, Adam deserves THE match, and offers Adam a contract to face him at ALL IN in Wembley Stadium. Adam happily signs the contract, and they declare mutual love and hug it out. This is certainly a different kind of build for a world title match at what might be the biggest wrestling show in history.
Backstage, Roderick Strong throws a violent tantrum. He's joined by The Kingdom, who can't help but notice that Adam Cole always seems to forget his real friends.
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson, and Matt Jackson, with Brandon Cutler) vs. Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh (with Sonjay Dutt and Karen Jarrett)
Jarrett and Omega start with some good ol' grappling. Jarrett scores a scoop slam and struts around. Omega fires a chop, so Jarrett pokes his eyes. Tag to Lethal, but Omega is ready for him and tags in Matt for a sledgehammer. The Bucks go to work on Lethal with a tandem rana and stereo dropkicks. Tag to Singh, who lumbers in to hover over Matt. Nick and Kenny don't want a tag, and force Matt to deal with the big man. Singh catches both Bucks with a crossbody. Back from commercials, Nick drops Jarrett with a superkick. Kenny gets the hot tag and runs wild with Kenny Omega type things. The Bucks prevent Singh from hitting a chokeslam, but Lethal dodges Kenny's moonsault. The Bucks throw a SUPERKICK PARTAY! V-Trigger for Singh. Kenny tries to lift Singh for One Winged Angel, but Sonjay interrupts. Lethal Combination on Omega. Cutler stops Karen's interference with some spray to the face, and Sonjay makes him pay. The Hardys run in to stop Sonjay. Jarrett swings a guitar at Kenny, but Hangman Page sneaks in for a Buckshot. Kenny V-Triggers the guitar into Lethal's face, pauses to strum the strings, and finishes with One Winged Angel at 9:00. Super fun glorified squash match, **.Winners: The Elite
The Elite remain in the ring, and Hangman Page announces that they've all re-signed with AEW. Omega teases that they might someday appear on Collision and bids us all a goodnight.
The Mogul Embassy talk to the camera about recent happenings. AR Fox is mad that Darby Allin didn't talk to him for five years, so he's going to take everything away from his old friend. They cut footage of Swerve Strickland and AR Fox breaking into Nick Wayne's garage to interrupt his training. They lay waste to Wayne and his buddies. Swerve smashes a framed picture of Nck with his father over his head, bloodying him. They call Darby Allin on Nick's phone to poke the bear a little more. What a heinous attack, which should lead to some crazy fights.
ROH Tag Team Championship:
Aussie Open © (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) vs. El Hijo Del Vikingo and Komander (with Alex Abrahantes)
Fletcher is a lot taller than Vikingo, but Vikingo is a lot faster and flusters him earlier. Vkingo takes a bow and tags in Komander, who walks on Vikingo's shoulders for a rana. Davis tags in for a big boot, and Aussie Open take control of Komander with smothering offense. Davis press slams Komander into Fletcher's knee strike, and Fletcher hits a flying cutter for 2. Komander slips past Fletcher and Vikingto blind tags in for a step up shotgun dropkick onto Davis. Stuffed superkick by Vikingo and a soaring guillotine leg drop! Aussie Open block stereo dive attempts and powerbomb their challenger's spines together. Back from commercials, Aussie Open seem ready to put Vikingo away. Komander springboards off of Vikingo's back to hit Fletcher with a DESTROYER! Vikingo and Komander hit a tightrope springboard SSP to outside! The challengers hit double 450 splashes, but Fletcher breaks the pin. Komander misses a springboard SSP, and Davis nails a dropkick. Aussie Open hit a brutal tandem powerbomb to finish at 10:05. Really good exhibition for both teams, of course having a ROH title match randomly on Dynamite is...well... random. ***¼.Winners and still ROH Tag Team Champions: Aussie Open
Video recap of CM Punk declaring himself to be the Real World Champion on Collision.
AEW Women's Championship:
Toni Storm © (with The Outcasts) vs. Hikaru Shida
They pause at the bell before duking it out. Storm is forced to regroup with the Outcasts. Toni grabs Shida by the hair but Shida answers with a shoulder tackle. Shida allows herself to be distracted by the Outcasts, but still hits a running knee lift and throws Storm into the rails. Storm drops Shida head first onto the guard rail, Shida answers with a suplex into the buckles and a mean suplex. Shida sells a head injury, which allows Toni back into the fight. The Outcasts get their cheap shots in. Back from commercials, Shida makes her regularly schedule comeback right on cue. Missile dropkick by Shida gets 2, as does Meteora. Ruby Soho disrupts a superplex, allowing Toni to hit a tornado DDT. Hip attack by Storm and DDT only get 2. They slug it out until Shida hits a nasty knee to the face. Falcon Arrow by Shida only gets 2. Saraya slides a kendo stick to Toni, but Shida takes it away. Shida resists hitting Toni, instead cracks the stick over Ruby. Toni sprays Shida in the eyes and hits Storm Zero but SHIDA KICKS OUT! Shida reverses a rollup and WINS at 13:16! Surprise title changes are the best. I was prepared to right this off as a house show style main event, and I'm happy to admit that the final sequence caught me off guard, ***½.Winner and new AEW Women's Champion: Hikaru Shida
Final Thoughts: This was a thoroughly enjoyable episode of Dynamite, but very little that I'd recommend going out of your way to see. I'm happy that we finally have a main event for ALL IN, and even if the match is only being announced 4 weeks in advance, they've been building this MJF/Cole storyline all summer, so reasonable people cannot argue that it was just thrown together.
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