FTR/Best Friends
No hope for an upset here. I was having issues with my stream and missed... most of this match to be totally honest. I really didn't even see enough to know how I felt about it. I saw Trent fighting alone, the arcade cabinet spot that seemed incredibly misplaced, the finish and the Miro stuff. For the record, why would FTR save the best friends from a count out if they're going to cheat to win anyway? What are they doing? I don't know. Let's just move on. Miro comes in afterwards and beats up Best Friends because FTR threw them through their cabinet.
Miro & Kip/Lee Johnson & Sean Maluta
So this was disappointing. Lee Johnson has been largely fighting in Dark for months it feels like, and I thought here he was going to kind of get the same chance Will Hobbs got-- to kind of show off for a bit. He got a theme and everything-- ultimately for nothing as this was just a chance for Miro to stomp around and get a camel clutch in.
What the hell is this? And now Miro/Kip are feuding with Best Friends while Penelope continues to do nothing and What the fuck is going on with the wedding. I know I said this last week-- but what is happening here? What IS this? I truly do not understand and it does not feel like a normal Dynamite storyline to me. I am so baffled by this every single week.
Lance attacks Moxley
Lance jumps Moxley backstage, just to get us ready for the main event later. Nothing else really happens here.
MJF Makes An Announcement
In a very, very, very long promo, MJF says, finally, that he would like to join the Inner Circle. Jericho tells him they need to have a steak dinner. MJF, also, finally gives Sammy his jacket which is sized for someone about 3x as big as Lance Archer. These two really have great chemistry together, and it's hard to tell which one of them is getting something over on the other at any particular time. Does Jericho know MJF is just feeding his ego to get into the group? Does MJF know Jericho might know? Hard to say. I'm happy to have more of this.
Britt Baker Update
In my favorite segment of the show, my OTP Baker/Tony are at a spa together discussing her latest rule, which ultimately leads to an announcement of Britt getting a match next week to start her big comeback. Tony also gets a chest wax!
Tony and Britt have, since the moment Britt really turned heel, had the absolute best chemistry. It's out of nowhere, goofy, and just makes me happy. I love them. Britt has really, truly grown as a wrestler over the last year. She's improved more than anyone else on the show in my opinion. They clearly want to get the belt onto her at some point, perhaps with this very run.
Cody/Orange Cassidy
This match was great if not KIND OF disappointing to me. Orange Cassidy, back to his old tricks, ducks and dodges Cody at first before a real match breaks out. Newly Blonde-Again Cody plays heel again as he did with Sonny Kiss back in their TNT title match, doing the pushups, attacking OC's leg on the post, being an asshole. Arn screams at him throughout the match, to no real avail.
I may be wrong, but I don't think Cody ever gets the Cross-Rhodes on OC, and OC never gets the Orange Punch on Cody, but they land almost all of their Not-Quite-Finishers on each other. OC has a huge, fiery comeback at the end and gets Cody pinned, gets a 1, gets a 2, then the match time expires. It's a draw. Cody's second, the first being against Darby, who coincidentally is in the stands watching this. Darby seems to applaud OC for his effort... or perhaps Cody for his. Hard to say. Darby has a complicated relationship with Cody. They've fought three times and despite Darby killing himself to win, just never could.
OC is getting a rematch with Cody soon, so hopefully he gets the win there.
There's some great stuff early on in this match when Dark Order looks to interfere, only to get kicked from the arena. They really are such a great group now. Seeing them all mad while getting shoved out of the match was, oofh, chefs kiss.
Moxley gets a hit on Lance
Same thing. Just another tease for the main event.
Matt Hardy is cleared
Matt gives a short promo, saying he's cleared to enter the ring once more when he's interrupted by a video from Sammy. Sammy says it was he that attacked Matt several weeks ago, taking him off his legs and further injuring him. He says he's not quitting until Matt doesn't come back. He's gonna finish what he started at All Out.
Matt says he had given up Sammy, but this time he'll finish it.
Fatal 4-Way Setup.
A bunch of tag teams are here, they're going to have a 4 way tag match to determine the number one tag contenders. Winner next week will face FTR. They draw names-- Private Party, John Silver/Alex Reynolds, Butcher and Blade... and the Young Bucks.
Matt and Nick come in, deliver some super kicks to Silver/Alex and B&B, make nice with Private Party before kicking their heads off, and it's clear there's gonna be some heat next week. A big brawl happens and we go to commercial.
Shida/Swole
Once more our champion fights for nothing more than her honor as there is absolutely no buildup whatsoever to this match. Swole is the number one contender now, after beating Britt back in the Dental Office brawl from All Out and everyone else having lost to Shida already.
In a surprisingly energetic and hard hitting match, Swole gets the upperhand more than once, only to fall victim to the falcon arrow and her finisher. The fans love this match and are very into it-- often in AEW this can be an energetic lull but not tonight. Everyone is all in, Shida looks fantastic, Swole does too despite some looseness here and there. Shida wins.
On the side, Nyla watches on, perhaps jealous that since she teamed up with Vickie Guerrero back in June or July, she's been on the show for a grand total of about 6 minutes. This is, I believe, Shida's 18th singles win in a row.
Spears talks about Scorpio
Shawn is upset with Scorpio-- he interrupted his match on Late Night Dynamite and feels like Scorpio stole his moment. He says its time he got that moment back.
These are two really great wrestlers, in my opinion, who almost never have anything to really do except for losing matches, so to see them fighting against each other should be a really great moment for them to shine. I'm torn though! I'd like to see both of them get a win really. Scorpio seems so forgotten a lot of the time, and seeing Shawn on Dynamite basically never even happens anymore. This dude has been in I think three pay per views, but just now seems to be aimless ever since he abandoned his search for a tag team partner.
Lance/Mox
Eddie comes out to run commentary on this match with Fenix/Pentagon. This thing is a firecracker, and at only ~15 minutes, wow.
Lance comes out with a new entrance, throwing a crew member through glass and emerging with a somewhat new look, a little reminiscent of his NJPW gear with the punk military helmet and Lemmy beard. His music is also new, and, personally, I hate it to death and back. His old song ruled ass. This... is weak.
Mox comes out, looking mad as shit. The match has been made No-DQ by Khan because of course it has. Mox hits the ring and IMMEDIATELY hits the paradigm shift on Lance, goes for the pin, and doesn't get it. This sort of sets Mox spiraling for awhile as Lance just DESTROYS him. Lance gets some tables set up outside the ring, while they fight around it reminiscent of the Mimosa Mayhem match. It feels like whoever goes through those tables is gonna lose the match.
After Lance pounds on Mox for awhile, John eventually gets the upperhand. He blasts Lance with a chair shot to the head. He gets some more offence in, throwing Lance out of the ring. Lance gets a trash can, unbeknownst to John, and when Mox comes in for the tope suicida, Lance is there to bash his skull in. More intense violence happens, BOTH of them go through the tables. Mox hits the Paradigm Shift on Lance again-- BUT ARCHER KICKS OUT! Lance hits the Blackout-- BUT MOX KICKS OUT! Lance tries a pinning move on Mox but Mox reverses, using Lances own weight against him. 1, 2, 3. Mox retains.
Eddie, who has been largely derisive of both Lance and Mox, rushes in and Fenix hits Archer with a chair. Lance retreats, knowing he's outnumbers, while Eddie tells Mox that he's not mad. He's here to celebrate the champion. Of course... he eventually manages to get the choke on Moxley. Now they're even. Eddie dumps the title on an unconscious Moxley to end the show.
Pros:
Cons:
Grade: B-