This show hailed from Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, FL and was pretty packed and hot for AEW. This is the last live Saturday night show for Dynamite and came before Impact’s Bound for Glory PPV. So tons of wrestling this night with the oddity being that Christian Cage was on the other show. However, supposedly after that match/event, it would be the finale with the Impact partnership supposedly.
Dustin Rhodes Vs. Bryan Danielson
This was a world title eliminator match. I’m certain the majority of the people didn’t think Dustin would win but the way they played this match, there were some very close moments where you believed that Dustin had a chance. It was probably one of the best Dustin Rhodes matches I’ve seen, definitely up there with his match against Cody but proving how a 50+ year old Dustin could still hang with the best.
And pretty much that was the point of this match (besides the title shot opportunity) in that it gave Dustin a chance to shine and provide a fresh match that Bryan Danielson could sink his teeth into. Dustin pulled out many of his major spots, including a power slam, the old Curtain Call and a very nice piledriver. The match was wrestled smart and really got the audience involved because of Dustin’s relationship with Florida. Eventually, Bryan hitched on a guillotine type of submission/sleeper where Dustin passed out. So he didn’t tap and Bryan got to use a different move to beat his opponent. The announcers even mentioned that point which makes Bryan Danielson a difficult opponent.
I have to mention that both shook hands out of respect for one another and Bryan did the babyface move at the end by checking on Dustin. So superb outing for both men.
Now, I want to discuss how on Jim Cornette’s podcast he mentioned that both CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are at risk for being overexposed, despite being the feature stars on AEW. Here’s the thing. I think as long as both are having superb, meaningful matches, then being featured almost every week will be a great thing. In Bryan Danielson’s case, it’s a matter of showing every week why he’s the best and the fact that he’s having great matches with a variety of opponents en route to a world title run demonstrates why he deserves that run. I’m sure Tony Khan is paying both guys a handsome amount of money but he’s definitely getting his dollar value from them.
Kenny Omega + The Elite Promo
They talk about Halloween, Coward Shit (rather than Cowboy Shit) and the upcoming match next week against the Dark Order. They really need to dislodge the Dark Order from Adam Page because they do him no favors. It wasn’t a bad promo necessarily but just lacked anything that made me interested because of the Dark Order.
FTR Promo
Pretty much FTR is going after the Lucha Bro’s gold. They ironically put themselves over as the best Lucha team while borrowing some of Jim Cornette’s catch phrases on modern wrestlers as “cosplayers pretending to be wrestlers.” Good promo. Really look forward to FTR beating the Lucha Bros for the world titles because they deserve it.
Sting Interview
Tony Schiavone is in the ring with Sting. Sting barely got a few words in when MJF interrupted and Schiavone hightailed it. MJF, Wardlow and Shawn Spears help to drop Sting when he attacks. Then MJF goes on a rant against Darby Allin. I get that MJF is like a Roddy Piper 2.0 but can’t we get to see this guy wrestle more often? I mean, if you’re going to end up with a physical altercation like this, why not just turn it into a match?
Dr. Britt Baker Backstage Interview
Again Schiavone is on the move doing an interview this time with Britt Baker. She’s by herself since I believe a bunch of people are on the Jericho Cruise. They announce that Tay Conti is getting her first title shot against Britt Baker, which explains partly why she’s not part of the TBS women’s title tournament. Thankfully, there are no interruptions nor assaults for once and Schiavone got to do his job.
Penelope Ford Vs. Ruby Soho
This was the first TBS women’s title tournament matches. I can’t stress enough how bad Penelope Ford is. Anna Jay and Jade Cargill are probably the worst members on the women’s roster with Ford being next in line. But at least with Jade she looks like a star, she’s got height, is built like a tank and her matches are short. Anna Jay, Ford and the Bunny are too skimpy, are either inexperienced or just plain terrible and have no presence whatsoever.
Ruby isn’t bad but she’s not one to carry a match. But Ford is god awful like the Bunny and Anna Jay. Her only positive attribute is that she’s pretty but it’s not enough to make me want to like her.
There were a ton of awkward moments in the match where Ford seemed to want to do more complicated moves. But her fundamentals are so bad that when something goes wrong, it’s hard to impossible for her to recover. In this match, Rick Knox actually does his job and turns babyface by kicking the brass knuckles out of the ring while Ruby gets a rollup for the win. That entire sequence was overbooked and unnecessary because Ruby should get a clean pin over Ford without any gimmicks. There’s absolutely no reason for Ford, the Bunny nor Anna Jay being protected at this stage.
Pinnacle Backstage Segment
MJF talking about MJF but Wardlow finally verbally addressing fact that MJF threw him under the bus. MJF gives Wardlow an “accountabilibuddy” in the form of Shawn Spears. Pretty pointless segment that keeps dragging out the obvious eventual turn from Wardlow.
Anthony Greene Vs. Bobby Fish
This is Greene’s first singles match on Dynamite. I never saw his NXT stuff but my impression of him has been that he’s a hippy jobber. This wasn’t exactly a squash match but Fish pretty much flattened Greene most of the time. Fish assaulted Greene in a post match beat down with CM Punk making the save. So Fish will get a match against CM Punk next week.
I have to say that Bobby Fish is turning out to be a great midcarder in AEW. Like 2.0 and Daniel Garcia, Fish is getting a ton of big matches here so far, even though he’s eating losses. It’ll be interesting to compare CM Punk’s match with Fish vs the one Bryan Danielson had. But it looks like Fish is turning heel.
Lio Rush and Dante Martin Backstage Interview
Schiavone gets to interview Lio and Lio is getting to do what I think he wanted in NXT/WWE in becoming primarily a mic guy for others. Dante is uncomfortable about teaming with Lio as Lio says that they’ll be taking on the Sydal brothers in a tag match next week. Pretty much guaranteed to be a spot fest but we’ll see how Lio does.
Lance Archer Vs. Eddie Kingston
This was the 2nd world title eliminator match on the show. It started off weird with Eddie Pearl Harboring Archer in a fit of irony. So they brawled a bit early on before Archer tossed Kingston into the ring as JR pointed out to allow for the bell to ring so he could actually win something.
I’m going to skip over most of the match because the main occurrence here was a scary accident by Archer when he tried to execute a moonsault but didn’t turn enough and landed on his head. Very scary moment that made me think back to Hayabusa, Brock Lesnar with the botched Shooting Star Press, etc. He took a moment to go to the outside where the doctor checked on him. Then when he was cleared, he went back in for Kingston to do a quick roll up to end the match.
Some people argued that they should have stopped the match when the accident happened but I’m guessing Archer wanted to finish up enough to put Kingston over. If anything they only did a “soft” move for the finish and it did make sense. But what a scary moment. Later, Archer reported that he was fine and he just messed up by not tucking enough.
The other major thing they showed was Tony Nese in the crowd. So it looks like AEW has another signing with Nese being a former WWE cruiserweight title holder. On the botched moonsault, Nese shook his head. They called Nese a “hot free agent” which means he probably signed with AEW.
Ethan Page, Scorpio Sky and Dan Lambert Interview
Page got a chance to speak with Sammy Guevara coming down to respond. Mostly, they went back and forth to talk about match stipulations. I guess Page is getting a TNT title shot against Guevara. There was a physical altercation with Guevara standing up against Page and Sky but the rest of the Inner Circle minus Jericho came down to chase them off. Pretty much a meh segment and I feel bad for Sammy being chucked into this feud.
Jon Moxley Segment
Moxley talks about fatherhood again and that nothing matters except coming home to his newborn daughter. Shows an ugly busted finger and indirectly buries wrestling but the point being that he does it for his family. At least, there were no interruptions.
The Dark Order and Hangman Page Segment
They talk about the Halloween special next week. Page comes out with a drink and apologizes to the Dark Order for his behavior before dipping out. Again, I cannot emphasize enough how Page needs to disassociate himself from the Dark Order because it just brings him down. Also, the fact that the Dark Order does nothing spectacular yet gets these big matches against the likes of the Elite is pretty bad because you can’t take these guys seriously. They’re just in this weird limbo state and will stay there until they either break up or get fired.
Jungle Boy Vs. Brandon Cutler
Anytime Brandon Cutler is involved in anything, I want to immediately fast forward. If Anna Jay, the Bunny and Penelope Ford are at the bottom of the women’s barrel, then Cutler, Nakazawa and Luther make it for the men’s division for me (there are more but I’m talking about a barrel with shit at the bottom). Match sucked because Cutler was involved. People try to validate Cutler’s comedy but he’s the type that hurts their program because he adds nothing and only subtracts.
Oddly, Jungle Boy gets a mic and starts beating up Cutler some more as a measure of revenge to bring out Adam Cole. Adam Cole delivers a great heel promo up until the Bucks kick Jungle Boy’s head off. Then they bring him up to the ramp where they further kick him around and eventually toss Jungle Boy off the ramp through a table. Adam Cole is just great in his role and I can see him with the world title in a year’s time. Or at least the TNT title. The Bucks are just goofs that won’t take anything seriously so they bring Cole down.
Miro Video Package
Another great package for Miro but again why isn’t he wrestling? There’s a world title eliminator tournament going on yet he’s just talking about his wife and God. My only guess is that Adam Page will win the world title and Miro will eventually challenge for it. Not sure if that’ll be before Bryan Danielson but I’m guessing those two will lock up as well some day. Miro has nailed his character down but where’s Lana/CJ Perry in all of this? He talks so much about her that I’m expecting her to pop up eventually.
Malakai Black Vs. Cody Rhodes
This was a mixed match for me. There was good stuff but way too much interference. Arn got a spinebuster on the geek who is Andrade’s manager. Also, I could swear the crowd was chanting to Arn, “Get the Glock!” after the meme that erupted from Arn’s speech to Cody. Arn responded by looking around while in the ring. Andrade did make his way down as well as Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson, who both were nailed by Malakai before. Eventually, Pac made his way out to brawl with Andrade
So the ending was good when they went back to the wrestling aspect. Malakai hit a great sequence with his quebrada inside the ring, followed up with a kick and a german suplex. Cody also got a nice sequence by doing a springboard Cody Cutter, followed up with a Cross Rhodes (that only got a 2 count) but finished with a mixed reaction when he did a Tiger Driver ’98 for the pin but people are saying that it represented a heel turn for him in beating Malakai. I don’t think so. I think Cody wants to be loved and won’t change.
So Cody got his loss back with the two other guys coming out to support him earlier. But I don’t think this feud will completely end here because of Pac and Andrade’s involvement. According to the “leaked” PPV card for Full Gear, I’m assuming Malakai Black will probably team with Andrade to face Pac and Cody. A shame Zelina Vega doesn’t show up because Cody would’ve probably brought out Brandi.
Final Thoughts
It seems that Dynamite has settled on a formula where they have 5-6 matches, two hot matches in the form of the opener and main event and a lot of cruft in between. Since a good chunk of their roster is on the Jericho Cruise, it’s not surprising to see someone like Cutler getting TV time on a Saturday. But with guys like Pac and Andrade just getting in a few seconds at the end while Cutler is given a full match, I’m just shaking my head.
Malakai vs Cody wasn’t bad except for the various brawls and interference with Andrade, Arn Anderson being in the ring for his spot, etc. I suppose all the chaos indicated that Malakai would not completely lose clean because of the distractions. But by the time the cruft got cleaned, the better part of the match started so it felt pointless.
Tony Nese showing up basically makes me believe Tony Khan’s goal at this stage is to turn AEW into the real NXT 2.0. I think if Vince McMahon was dead and Hunter had full control over NXT, AEW is as close to what Hunter would have wanted for the future of pro-wrestling to be.
My biggest complaint besides Brandon Cutler being given TV time is the women’s division. Every week they’re showing Ford, Bunny, Anna Jay, etc. But these women are terrible. Like keep them on Dark until they improve. Not sure if Bunny will ever get better. She’s been around long enough and when you don’t get it, you just won’t get it. But Ford and Anna Jay have youth on their side to improve. They just need better workers, trainers and time on Dark to work on their craft.
If anything though, at least the opening match and main event were worth watching. Malakai Black is basically the Undertaker 2.0 at this stage while Cody Rhodes is John Cena when the WWE was shoving him down everyone’s throats. I’m sure Cody hears all the boos from the audience but I think his ego is too big to do the right thing. Instead, it seems he’ll probably pair up with Pac to take on Andrade and Malakai, which actually might be good wrestling-wise. But the question is what goal will it accomplish outside of just having that match?
The last thing I want to point out is the rumor that AEW will no longer be associated with Impact wrestling as a partner. I think that’s going to be great. First, Christian Cage had lost the Impact title so he’ll be more focused with AEW again (and for the better just because he won’t have to wrestle in front of that pathetic 50 person audience they show every week). Second, no more Good Brothers since they have a far more talented Adam Cole.
The negative part though is that their women’s divisions won’t mix. I think Impact’s women’s division might be stronger right now. It’s not a huge amount but AEW’s women’s division is far from good. They have at their S-tier Serena Deeb, Thunder Rosa, Britt Baker and Ruby Soho. But it falls off rapidly from there because either the people they have are inexperienced or indy outlaw mudshow goofs. There’s a few not in the S-tier, whom I think have hope like Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander, Leyla Hirsch, Red Velvet and Hikaru Shida. But they really need a lot of work before this division becomes competitive.
Now, I will say that the one head turner would be Charlotte Flair. The big story over the weekend was how Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch got into a shouting bout over the title exchange on Smackdown. Supposedly, Charlotte was told to leave the arena, for which she promptly went to Florida to be with her fiance, Andrade, who in turn Tweeted out “FU WWE.” It was quite hilarious.
People are saying Charlotte has become difficult to work with, how Becky is the one being sung as the hero backstage, Charlotte is using this as a way to get fired so she could go to AEW, etc. And people are also comparing her poor attitude (if this isn’t a work) to Teresa Blanchard. But let’s face facts. If Charlotte Flair were to show up at AEW in the next week, it would be a huge moment almost as big as CM Punk, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson appearing. And perhaps the reason she’s in this slot (if it’s not a work) is because the WWE is just a toxic workplace and she just wants out asap. So her showing up in AEW might be different. Also, she would add a ton of credibility to the women’s division. As much as I want to like Ruby Soho, her matches just haven’t been at the level where she should be the world title holder. But Charlotte would boost that division massively just like Bryan Danielson has been putting out those good matches.
Of course, in reality, this probably won’t happen because of her contract. And the thing is that she needs a fresh environment because there’s nothing left for her to do in the WWE at this point. Becky Lynch should be the face of the WWE’s women’s division and be allowed to have a long reign. And the only way that would happen is if Charlotte goes elsewhere. But at least Charlotte and Britt Baker would be a top main event and give Britt someone she could learn from.