Written By All Elite Gino (Gino Lewis)
Location Capital One Arena, Washington DC
Dynamite comes to us tonight from Capital One Arena in Washington DC. To say I’m looking forward to the show would be an understatement. I thought last week’s show was phenomenal. I rated it 8.6 which is the highest I have rated an episode of Dynamite. On paper this week should be even better. Much better. There are 2 pay per view caliber matches; MJF vs Adam Cole in a World Championship Eliminator and a trios match between the Hung Bucks and Blackpool Combat Club. The rest of the card is very good. There should be some things set up for Forbidden Door as well. Tonight, I’ll be enjoying a few Pacifico’s while watching the show. Dynamite and a few beers. Sounds good to me. Let’s get to the action!
Adam Cole vs MJF – WOW! Talk about a hot start. I wasn’t expecting this at all. My wife said I wonder if something big is going to happen at the end with Blackpool and the Elite now. She’s right, this is a main event caliber match. It could main event a pay per view soon. It’s also risky to do the match here. It will be a tough act to follow for sure. Cole out first to huge cheers. The crowd pops for his “BOOM” and “Adam Cole BAY BAY” like always. MJF out to huge boos like always. Back and forth action but no shots landed early in the match as the wrestlers' exchange antics. MJF knocks a fan’s hat off in the crowd. It didn’t look planned. The fan seemed thrilled. I would have been! The crowd is loud for Cole. Sounds like another hot crowd like last week.
Cole is selling an arm injury. MJF works over the arm with Cole tied up in the apron as a result. Back in the ring, MJF is in control and has slowed down the pace. MJF does a jacking off motion on Cole’s arm. Weird. It does fit his character. MJF with a pump handle suplex type move. He gets the first near fall of the match. MJF mocks Cole using Shawn Michaels old pose. He teases sweet chin music but eats a superkick from Adam instead. MJF is bleeding from the mouth. They showed a replay. Cole might have really gotten him. Backstabber from Cole for a 2 count. Dueling “let's go Adam”, “MJF” chants. The wrestlers exchange shoulder breakers. Adam gets a 2 count on his. Cole hit a neck breaker over his knee for another near fall. Cole buckled his knee according to the refs. Cole is selling the injury.
After some back-and-forth action on the outside, MJF nailed Cole with a jumping tombstone on the apron. Ouch. It looked safe but that could have been brutal. They go to the first commercial of the night. MJF has the advantage and spits on Adam after the break. That gets Cole back into the contest as the fighter's exchange strikes. Both men are down after a huge lariat from MJF as the crowd applauds. MJF gets a 2-count coming out of it. Cole counters with a crossface. MJF gets out of it and puts on the Fujiawara armbar. Ankle lock for Cole. Fast paced submission action! The crowd is really into it. This has been an awesome match. The crowd agrees as they chant “this is awesome”. Big knee and Heat Seeker for MJF. He gets the best near fall of the match so far.
Adam Cole is laid out with the ref checking on him. MJF clears off the time keepers area. He puts Cole on the table and nails a flying elbow from the top rope. Holy Shit! That was awesome! The crowd is going nuts. Great replays. Good production for AEW. The crowd chants “A-E-Dub". Cole barely beats the 10-count. MJF is shocked he survived. This is without a doubt the most I’ve typed for a match lol. Straightjacket German Suplex on the apron for Cole. There have been a lot of big moves on the apron. Excalibur says it’s been a very physical match. It has. MJF is taunting referee Bryce Remberg. That leads to a roll up from Cole and a ref bump. MJF grabs the title and attempts Eddie Guerrero’s famous move where he throws the title to his opponent then acts knocked out. It back fires as Remberg falls back to the mat. Cole nails MJF with the belt and then the Boom knee strike. Remberg slowly counts 2 and MJF kicks out right at 3. WOW, amazing near fall!
Cole looks confused after the near fall. It was a slow count for sure. “Fight forever” chants. There have been too many chants to list. MJF distracts Remsberg and hits a low blow. He pulls out the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Bryce catches MJF with the ring. Cole nails the Panama Sunrise he takes a few moments to fire up the crowd then hit the Boom again for the 1, 2, the bell rings. It’s a time limit draw. UGH! What a match. The ending was very creative. I don’t think I’ve seen that happen before. Cole stalled a little before hitting the second Boom and it took him a few seconds to make the cover. That was very smart booking to show how much of a beating Cole took coming back to cost him in the end. Well done. Superb performance from both performers! I’m sure we’ll see this again soon. Probably more than once. Grade 4 ¾ *
This has never happened before but I’m already starting my second beer after the first match. To be fair there has never been a 30-minute match to open the show since I’ve been doing this. That match got my juices flowing and the beer is going down smoothly. It could get ugly tonight lol. They show a video package for CM Punk. His first since being back. He says he has a lot to get off his chest. I doubt he’ll talk about what we want to hear though. I believe there are still legal documents in place to stop all that. I hope I’m wrong. Renee Paquette is in the ring for an interview with Sammy Guevara. Sammy seems like he’s in babyface mode as he talks about having a baby girl. Congrats to Guevara and Tay Melo! Sammy says he needs to make some changes here in AEW. That brings out Darby Allin.
That’s an interesting interruption. Darby says the fans are starting to love Sammy again. I’m not sure about that. It drew a mixed reaction. Allin asks if Gevara is ready to start standing on his own instead of in Jericho’s shadow. That brings Jericho out to Judas. The crowd sings loudly as usual. They boo Chris as he shuts the music off. It’s awesome how they sign his song then boo him. Jericho says Sammy never called him once while he was chasing MJF and he’d be AEW champion if Sammy asked for his help. Sammy mocks Jericho for losing to Adam Cole twice. Sammy is definitely in face mode. Looks like the JAS could be crumbling. Sammy says he “ain’t apologizing for shit”. Jericho tells Guevara to remember who’s boss. Darby tells Jericho he may be a wizard but the magic is gone.
Jericho threatens Allin with a 2 on 1 beatdown. Darby says not alone. Which of course means it’s STIIIIIIING! Chris and Sting are face to face in the ring for what the announcers say is the first time ever. Looks like we have tag match next week. Sting and Jericho both have bats and put them in each other's faces. Jericho backs down. They hit the bats together as Chris leaves the ring. Guevara is still in the ring as we go to commercial. This was very good. If it really is Sting and Jericho’s first interaction that is truly astounding. It could lead to a good rivalry. Perhaps this will set up something at Forbidden Door.
Back from commercial Sanada is shown back stage. Really cool to see him on AEW TV. It was rumored he would be on. My wife and I both thought it was Richard Holiday at first. I would have marked out if it was. I certainly won’t complain about Sanada, he’s a great performer. Sanada throws out an open challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door. Nice! There are plenty of great opponents on the stacked AEW roster. Mogul Embassy is already ringside. Their match is up next as Orange Cassidy comes down out to the ring to a great ovation.
Orange Cassidy, Sting, Darby Allin and Keith Lee def Mogul Embassy (Swerve Strickland, Brain Cage and Gates of Agony – Fast paced action to start. We go to an early commercial break. The rest of the show may be a bit rushed after the epic opening bout. Swerve is in control of Darby Allin as we return from break. Brian Cage hit a huge powerbomb followed up by House Call from Swerve. Orange Cassidy broke up the pin. They show Daniel Garcia watching backstage. I'm unaware of him having anything going on with anyone in this match. Darby hit a stunner on Swerve and tagged in Keith Lee. Lee dominated everyone. He slipped on a flip attempt after Cage launched him. His offense still looked great. All 4 men from Mogul Affiliates combine to hit Lee with a stomp powerbomb combination. Darby and Cassidy break up the pin attempt.
Cassidy hit a swinging DDT on Swerve which started a run of everyone hitting big moves. Toa Liona and Sting had some awkward looking exchanges. I thought Sting might have been injured. He finished the match fine so he must be OK. Darby hit a Coffin Drop to take out a couple of his opponents on the outside. Sting is cleaning house in the ring. He goes for the Scorpion Death Drop on Brain Cage. Cage reverses it. Orange Cassidy “hit” the Orange Punch. You could tell it didn’t connect. It was enough to drop Cage back into the Scorpion Death Drop. Sting hit it this time for the 3-count. Good match with the usual wild action-packed brawling we get from AEW. Although the result was obvious result it was an entertaining match. We see Garcia watching the monitor again. He motions to the camera this time. Grade 3 ½ *
We see a replay of the Ass Boys helping Jay White beat Ricky Starks last week before Renee is backstage interviewing the Gunns. They challenge the Hardy’s to a match to see how the best brother tag team is. That match will happen next week on Dynamite in Chicago. Wardlow is out next. Hager jumps him before the match to gain the advantage. I doubt he keeps it long.
Wardlow def Jake Hager – Hager had the advantage early. It didn’t last long like I predicted. Warlow launches Jake over the top rope with his head hitting the steps. An early commercial break for the second straight match. Hager has the advantage with Wardlow in the ankle lock after the break. It didn’t last long again as Wardlow hit a big spinebuster. Daddy Magic Matt Menard and Cool Hand Angelo Parker come out for the distraction. It works. Hager hits a chop block taking out Wardlow’s knee. Brock Anderson comes out and makes the save. He and Arn Anderson fight 2.0 to the back. That was weird after Brock got taken last week. I think that’s poorly done. There is no reason for Brock to be in that spot in the first place but especially after getting a beat down last week.
Wardlow kicks out at one after a suplex from Hager. Wardlow quickly gets the advantage back again. He hits a dive to Hager on the outside then a Senton from the top back in the ring. Hager is set up for the Powerbomb Symphony. Wardlow hits the first. The second. It was only 2 this time. Wardlow hooks the leg and gets the 3-count. There wasn’t much to it. A little longer than a squash. Jake did get some offense in. It wasn’t terrible. I’m not sure there was really a reason for this match. Grade 2 *
After the match Christain and Luchasaurus are shown on the big screen. We can’t hear what Christian is saying. The sound finally comes in. Christian accepts Wardlow’s open challenge to Luchasaurus on his behalf. He also says we’ll see how you do without your daddy. Arn is laid out and bleeding. The evil dinosaur has taken him out. OH NO! Wardlow runs to the back. I see why did the match and why Brock was involved. I still can’t go higher than 2 stars for the match and don’t think Brock should have been on TV a week after a savage beatdown. It’s a minor complaint. The show has been outstanding so far.
I’m starting my third beer. Pacifico is a Mexican pilsner. It’s been a favorite of mine for a long time. It is my Uncle Bill’s favorite beer. He introduced me to it. It was my wife and I beer of choice when we went to Cabo San Lucas on our honey moon. We certainly had a lot of them during that trip. More than I’ll have tonight for sure. It’s hard to really define the taste. It has a flavor of its own. It’s smooth and tastes very good. You don’t need a lime with it like a lot of Mexican beers. The flavor stands up for itself. I’m actually thinking I should drink more soon. I'll rate it a 9!
Tanahashi is shown on a video package. He says he almost had Moxley beat for the AEW Championship last year. He challenges MJF to a match at Forbidden Door. I think that’s cool. I’ve seen a lot of Tanahashi so it’s not really a big deal seeing him for me. He loses a lot in Japan so he doesn’t seem like the greatest opponent for MJF. He has slowed down a lot in recent years. That said, he is a huge star. As big as it gets in Japan. I know most AEW fans don’t watch as much New Japan as me. It’s probably a better matchup than I think it is. Renee tells MJF the match is official while he is being attended to in the trainer's room. MJF tells Renee to “come(cum) again” but then says he heard Paquette so it was really just a joke that the crowd reacted to. That was clever sexual innuendo from MJF for a change. He turns down Tanahashi’s challenges and says he’s no showed before. I doubt that will happen. The match is happening!
Back for the break Orange Cassidy is backstage with Renee. Orange says he doesn’t know what’s next for him. Zach Sabre Jr comes up. What! That’s awesome. He says that Orange mentioned his name in the media scrum and how he wants Cassidy’s title. Daniel Garcia interrupts. I guess we see who he was scouting earlier. He wonders where Shibata is with the ROH pure title. Orange sets up a match for next week between he and Shibata against Sabre and Garcia. Sweet! Sign me up for that! Sabre tells Daniel to pack it in to end the segment. I’m sure that match will have Forbidden Door implications. I’m becoming a big Orange Cassidy fan. I don’t think he should beat Sabre and I don’t think Sabre should lose at Forbidden Door for a second straight year. I think Sabre is a huge star. He could be the top gaigin wrestler in Japan soon.
Toni Storm def Sky Blue – Blue earned this shot by winning a fatal 4 way on Rampage. I like that she earned the shot. Sky Blue has the advantage early. The crowd is behind her. She kicks a sign Ruby Soho is holding into her face. That was mildly funny. Toni Storm sprays paint into Sky’s mom’s face who is sitting at ringside. Blue gets revenge by hitting a dive to take out Storm and Soho as we head to break. Sky still has the advantage after the break and hits a couple nice kicks. Storm turns the table and gains as Blue gets caught up in the ropes. Toni’s ring gear is shorter than normal tonight. I certainly don’t mind. My wife growled at me when I mentioned it lol.
Here we go with the Outcasts normal distraction tactics. Ruby distracts the ref and gives Storm the spray paint. Toni goes after Sky but Sky has her own paint. She sprays Toni in the eyes. Blue hits her finisher Code Blue but Soho has the ref distracted. The crowd popped for the move showing they are firmly behind Blue. It might have been a good idea for a shock title change. The crowd was all about it. Toni Storm hit Storm Zero after hanging Blue up in the ropes. Match over. NO! Blue kicked out. Great near fall. It meant nothing as Storm quickly tapped her out with a Cloverleaf. After the match the Outcasts tried their normal numbers game beat down. New Japan Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale comes out of the save. The announcers mentioned her title which is cool. She won it over Mercedes Mone when she unfortunatley broker her foot at New Japan Resurgence last month. It was a solid effort from the women tonight. The crowd was behind Sky Blue the whole way. The Outcasts predictable numbers game thing isn’t exciting anymore which hurt the match a bit. Grade 3 ¼
Renee backstage again with Jungle Hook. I don’t think Hook knows what month it is. He is wearing a shirt with a jack-o-lantern on it. Jungle Boy says he feels naked next to Hook without a championship. H accepts Sanada’s open challenge. He says he meant to talk to Hook about it and they are now best friends. He says things all happened so fast. This relationship is developing fast. It’s official. Jack and Hook are tag team partners now. This reminded me of a high school drama like Degrassi. It was good though. I’m glad Jungle Hook will become a regular team. The roster is so crowded. The pairing will keep them on TV if nothing else. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them win tag gold before the end of the year. I’m stoked for Sananda vs Perry. That will be an awesome match. Great development for Forbidden Door tonight as I expected.
They show the same video packages for Omega/Ospreay and Danielson/Okada as last week. I would have liked to see more. They are still doing a wonderful job setting up that show! Excaliber runs down a few lineups and we get a nice video package setting up the main event of Collision between Samoa Joe/ Bullet Club Gold against CM Punk/FTR. It was good. Excaliber announces Miro and Andrade are returning on Collision. Say What! Furthermore, Andrade is going against Buddy Matthews. Awesome! I hope that match gets a lot of time. Matthews is one of the most underrated wrestlers and my favorite striker in AEW. Man, Collision is stacked. It almost feels like a PPV with these huge returns. My wife has gotten up to grab our fourth beer as we head to the main event. This is the first time I’ve hit the 4-beer mark covering a show.
The Hung Bucks/Elite (Hangman Adam Page and the Young Bucks) def Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) - The Bucks are dressed like the 3 Amigos. LOL, nice touch. All 6 participants start to brawl to open the match. Hot start for the Bucks mentioned by the announcers. Hangman hit an excellent shooting star press off the apron to the floor on Wheeler Yuta. The Bucks were holding Yuta up for it. The Bucks are wrestling with bandanas on. Fast paced action with dives all around. They are ignoring tag rules and rules all together. Some people will complain about it. I think the action is tremendous. They go to the last commercial.
The action is so fast paced after the break. Hangman is on fire. The crowd is loving it. It’s really going too fast to write about. I think they are short on time. Danielson is on commentary. He’s great in this position. I haven’t had a chance to mention with the frantic pace. Doomsday Device from Moxley and Claudio on Matt for what I think is the first pin attempt of the match. Super kick party for all 3 members of BCC. BTE Trigger on Yuta followed up by a Buck Shot Lariat. The Elite pick up the win. Holy crap! What do say about that? The action was incredible. It really wasn’t a match at all. It was wild brawl. Maybe it should have been a tornado style tag match. It doesn’t bother me much. It was an excellent fight although a little short and rushed. Grade 3 ¾ *
The action barely stopped for second as the brawl continued. Claudio is in control when Eddie Kingston comes out. Welcome back! The AEW audience loves Eddie Kingston and is going crazy for him. Kingston takes out Yuta and Claudio with backfists but can’t take out Mox. They have a lot of history. Matt Jackson goes after Moxley. Eddie breaks that up. Moxley and Kingston go face to face a couple times here so we don’t know where their relationship is at. Out next is Takeshita. He takes out Eddie and Nick Jackson. Callis out with him. Kenny Omega’s music hits. The place is coming unglued according to Schiavone. They really are as he gets one of the biggest reactions of the night.
Loud “Kenny” chants. Omega nails Takeshita with a V-Trigger and clears the ring. He sets up another V-Trigger and destroys Yuta who is prone in the ropes. Immediately after he gets rocked with a kick to the back of the head by....Will Ospreay! His opponent for the New Japan United States Championship at Forbidden Door. Ospreay hits Kenny with 2 Hidden Blades and Storm Breaker to end the show. Ospreay is my wife's favorite wrestler. She is marking out for Will. She yelled STORM BREEEAAAKER when Ospreay it hit. It sounds like Taz marked out on commentary too. I’m not sure if that was legit. There have been reports AEW announcers don’t know everything that is happening to get genuine reactions. That may have happened here. The announcers are going nuts like they always try to. It doesn’t seem forced this time. Rightfully so. Unbelievable action to end the show. This is how it’s done! I’ve been loving the buildup to Forbidden Door and this took it so much further. This really felt like WCW in its hay day!
Absolutely incredible show! Beginning to end the action was outstanding all night. One thing I think AEW doesn’t do a great job at is building their PPV’s. That’s out the window for Forbidden Door. I’ve really enjoyed everything leading up the show. It’s hard to have a wrestling show where so much happens and it’s all awesome and meaningful. I, like many others, have thought AEW has been in a slump for a while. If you go back and look at my early ratings of shows, you’ll see that I felt that way. I thought it was unfortunate they didn’t get out of the slump at Double or Nothing. I feel like they are out of the slump now. For me Forbidden Door is as can’t miss of a show for any company in a long time. I feel like this is going to feel like a throwback to the early AEW days where we are watching new fresh and innovative. It truly is with 2 of the biggest promotions in the world working together in perfect harmony the way they did tonight. This is without a doubt the best AEW show I have reviewed. It’s the reason I started doing this!
Overall Grade 9.5
2023 overall grade 8.07
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