AEW Tag Team Championhip
Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs. SCU (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky)
Dynamite starts this week with a Tag Team Championship match, but before the opening bell rings, The Dark Order come on the TitanTron? Is that just a WWE thing? Video Board? Let’s come up with a name for that. But they come on and say the exalted one is coming and they’ll attack when necessary and SOME OF THEIR MEMBERS ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. You know, Christopher Daniels is just chilling at ringside. So, of course, Daniels is like whoa guys, I’m going to go check on them and make sure they don’t attack you and bails. It’s conspicuous, sure, but the announce team over sells it and now I DON’T think it’s Daniels that’s the exalted one – too obvious. So, it’s still weird and it’s still intriguing. PLUS, The Dark Order had a decent match on AEW Dark this week.
At the beginning of the match, everyone is friends but SCU (Scorpio Sky) starts to get some cheap shots in and Kenny Omega is like whoa dude, what the hell. I like SCU getting an edge. I don’t even like their characters. They’re from SoCal and really trash every city they go to….but people like it? (Dr.) Britt Baker calls people in Cleveland scumbags and everyone hates her. These guys do it and they’re the best? It’s weird. Welcome to wrestling.
The ongoing story of Hangman Page being an asshole and slowly deteriorating is GREAT and I’m all about it. He’s trying to do everything himself to “prove” that he doesn’t need The Elite and he’s got a chip on his shoulder. It’s really great character development after he was pushed super hard at first without many people knowing who he was. Remember when he was in the first ever AEW Championship match? He’s come a long, long ways since then. Kenny Omega basically loves Adam Page more than anything and Page is just like, eh thanks but no thanks. The match got “This is Awesome” chants, which I LOVE. I didn’t love the weird ending with the rope grab. Honestly, to me, that took a ton of it away. Are we really ending the match with a “controversial” call? That’s just bad planning, in my opinion. A tiny blemish on an otherwise fantastic match. It will hurt the grade, slightly. Overall Grade: A-
The post match shenanigans prove how truly deep the tag division is. There were 8 good teams (9 if you count Silver and Reynolds) and it didn’t even include Private Party who was one of the top teams for a (short) moment. Also, there’s Santana and Ortiz
Speaking of – the interview with Santana was GREAT. THAT’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, KIDS! I actually sort of love Santana now. Followed by a Darby Allin video that’s prerecorded about him being attacked and smashing a skateboard in his throat (so he can’t talk) and, again, I love these weird videos. He challenges Sammy to a match at Revolution and that match will be fire!
Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes
Dustin Rhodes is an interesting character. I love that he’s out there and I love that he’s doing well for the younger guys most times. But here’s a couple things. 1.) he shouldn’t be doing Canadian Destroyers. That’s just unrealistic. 2.) for such a smart guy, he’s dumb at times. and most importantly 3.) he shouldn’t be beating Sammy Guevara who is like a hidden gem and fantastic at wrestling and being on the mic…ESPECIALLY since Sammy has an upcoming match with Darby Allin who has gone toe to toe with Cody and PAC, who would murder Dustin in their sleep. Essentially Cody>Darby>Half the AEW Roster>Dustin>Alex Reynolds>Sammy and I’m now starting to regret my earlier fire comment about the Darby/Sammy match because Sammy can’t beat 59 year old Dustin freakin’ Rhodes. I don’t hate Dustin, but put over the younger talent who are SUPER TALENTED and let’s move forward. Why does Dustin need this win? People love Dustin because he’s Dustin. Sammy actually needs the win right now. Just frustrating. Overall Grade – C-
Now, with that being said, his mic work AFTER the match….let’s go! Jake Hager will murder Dustin but I’m all about it. That’s the feud we deserve and we’ve been waiting on. DUSTIN FOREVER! (Except for everything I said in the previous paragraph).
Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker are my favorite things right now haha they just keep feeding the poor guy to her and she destroys him. Can we get this match at Revolution? Tony Schiavone might be subpar but his expressions during Britt Baker segments is GOLD!
AEW Women’s Championship
Riho vs. Nyla Rose
This was a rematch of the first ever AEW women’s championship match between Riho and Nyla Rose. I thought Nyla’s first couple appearances in AEW were great and I thought she has been pretty bad since, which is disappointing. This match with Riho was the exact opposite. Look at some of this action:
Ultimately, Nyla Rose won the match. I’m not sure how I feel about the decision/direction, necessarily but someone had to take the title off of Riho to give Statlander or Big Swole or Shanna a shot at a heel champ. But the match itself was great! Overall Grade: A-
MJF vs. Jungle Boy
This match was simply there to build up the feud/ongoing story with Cody. Brandi Rhodes, now suddenly normal since they’re disbanding The Nightmare Collective, was on commentary and MJF said she can get some of little man while grabbing his crotch? The match was really, again, just a placeholder. No real botches or screw ups but nothing too exciting, either. MJF is a GREAT heel – but that sometimes means his matches aren’t super exciting, either. Nothing wrong with it – there’s definitely a place for it and he’s one of the best at doing it, but just a slow match for me. Overall Grade: C-
Note – the post match attack with Wardlow – seems like he does a spinning F-5! Take that, Brock Lesnar!
Jon Moxley vs. Santana
I didn’t know much about LAX (Santana and Ortiz) prior to them coming to AEW but I think they’re very, very good wrestlers. That’s what has always been said about them but seeing it first hand is great. Santana does a very good job in the ring against Moxley. Again, I’m not sure why we’re doing TWO eye patch wrestlers who can still jump off the top rope and see punches coming, but I won’t harp on that anymore. I just feel like if I closed one of my eyes and fought someone with one of their eyes closed, it would be a trainwreck. Granted, if I fought someone with both eyes, it’s probably not going to be pretty. The match was really to set up the post match beat down but it served its purpose. Overall Grade – B
They mention it earlier in the show, but Jeff Cobb makes his AEW debut this week and destroys Moxley. The Inner Circle keeps getting bigger and better. I don’t want this to be an nWo type of faction, but they’re ridiculous. Also, old school BEST for Jake Hager just being actually hilarious during this attack and segment. Posing by Moxley and just posing in general. Love it.
That’s it, guys! One of the best episodes to date and another great episode next week so be on the look out for another blog! Let us know what you thought of this week’s episode.