It's the follow-up to FULL GEAR... a couple days later than anticipated, but better late than never, I suppose. Look, I posted an Impact musings on a [REDACTED] match a week after it happened, so this ain't too bad, folks.
Anyway, we have a tag title bout on this here show to go along with a really awesome MJF promo and the debut of... some guy. Here we go.
We open with Kenny Omega seeing a doctor, who tells Kenny to take the week off while Moxley is cleared to wrestle. So it turns out that was a Lights Out Winner Gets To Work This Week match. Gotcha.
Jon Moxley squashed MICHAEL NAKAZAWA (who forgoes his usual baby oil because he's ANGRY) and then cuts a promo challenging anyone to a fight, while kindly reminding them to keep an ambulance on speed dial. Clearly advice Kenny should've taken.
The Dark Order defeated Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy in what was a perfectly acceptable tag-team match that had the Dark Order's goons surround Marko Stunt to try and initiate him when the REAL STAR of AEW, the Luchasaurus, makes his return from injury and does things that a star does. He takes out the goons that run at him, he takes down three goons with a single roundhouse kick, he chokeslams a guy, follows it up with a moonsault, and even lets Marko keep his cosplay mask. People are going crazy over this guy. I like the Luchasaurus. He is a god among lizards. He is perhaps the greatest star in wrestling today.
Yes, I am serious. Fuck off with your Rollins, Callihans, and Aldises. A dude dressed as a fucking dinosaur is a bigger and more beloved superstar either of those fuckers. (And I like Aldis too, but still.)
Darby Allin defeated Peter Avalon and Shawn Spears in a three-way that turned into a two-way after Joey Janela attacked Spears and the two brawled to the back. I'm starting to grow on this Darby Allin fellow and clearly somebody at AEW sees something in him too, considering he's had a couple high-profile matches under his belt... oh wait, Allin accepts Moxley's open challenge. That should be fun... but please don't make it a Lights Out match. We don't need those anymore for a long, long time.
Nyla Rose squashes some random girl. Just so we remember that she exists or something. But hey, at least it was a short match that makes Nyla seem like a threat... which she should be considering her stature. This is followed by an interview with Allie, who is then attacked by Awesome Kong, who then cuts Allie's hair for some reason. This is a thing that is happening, apparently. Also, for a company that supposedly promotes diversity, AEW sure does have a lot of blond girls. We should rectify that soon as possible.
And now we have the best part of the show; Le Champion du AEW Chris Jericho brags about his win over Cody. But wait, here comes... MJF coming out to Cody's entrance and music, earning a chorus of Asshole chants that gets muted from the audio... and yet the later "Bullshit" chants don't get muted until MJF says the word. In any event, MJF cuts a promo regarding saving Cody's life by throwing the title, and proceeds to describe Cody as the real villain who tried to hold MJF under his thumb, but MJF is better than that and better than you.
He then turns his attention to Jericho, having heard rumors that he wants MJF to join the circle. Jericho counters with his own rumors that MJF wants to join the Inner Circle. This leads to the two trying to get the one-up on each other, throwing barbs, and teasing a conflict before professing their common hatred for Cody. This brings out Cody, who tries to get his revenge, but gets curtailed by the debuting Wardlow, who is a big guy in a suit... because sure, why not? That last bit aside, this was delightful. Two smarmy assholes bickering and professing their common hatred of Cody, Cody trying to make the comeback, but eventually succumbing to this new Wardlow fellow, who is presumably going to be MJF's muscle. Sometimes, comedy in wrestling works when it's done organically and not forced.
THAT INGLORIOUS BASTARD PAC defeated Hangman Adam Page in another great match between these two, even though I'm not particularly thrilled with throwing the rematch on free TV just days after they already have a match on PPV. But hey, I can't complain too much for having more of a good thing.
Actually, thinking about it after a while, yes I can. Page beat Pac at the PPV and now Pac beats Page on free TV, thus negating the win at Full Gear... why do this, AEW? This is bush-league WWE booking, guys.
Meanwhile, the Young Bucks and Pride and Powerful (the former LAX) are brawling in the back, which explains why they didn't help Cody early on... because you know, in AEW, the babyfaces usually have friends. There's a random bit where a door is opened and Orange Cassidy is in the bathroom. Santana then closed the door to resume the brawl. I chuckled. Some would find that stupid, but fuck it, I enjoyed that. It didn't kill the brawl that spilled over to the stage that sees one Buck get powerbombed through the stage while one of their buddies get beat up and eventually Private party (or is it Best Friends? I get those confused sometimes) and security comes in to break up the brawl... because you know, in AEW, babyfaces have back-up.
AEW World Tag-Team Champions Scorpio Sky and Kazarian defeated Le Champion du AEW Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara to retain the titles when Sky rolled up Jericho for the pin, thus giving Sky a bit of a boost while giving Jericho his first loss in AEW. Le Champion reacts to this poorly, as one would expect... so no bubbly tonight? Good match, good sound story of the tag-team champion Scorpio Sky beating the singular World Champion Chris Jericho and making him a bigger deal. So if Sky were to have a title match with Jericho, I'd have no problem with Jericho winning because he is the singles World Champion and the only people who should be beating the champion is another champion on the same level.
That was actually a fun show. Much like the ratings this week, Dynamite bounced back with another strong showing. We got a couple matches for next week, a couple entertaining matches out of this one, some advancement in storylines, a fun bickering segment between Jericho and MJF, and this continues to be the easiest two hours of wrestling television on my palette. What a wonderful little program this is; so full of color and life that makes me excited to see the next installment the following week.
Speaking of life, I don't know if I have touched on this yet... but the commentary on these shows have been fabulous and almost all of it has to do with Tony Schiavone. No disrespect to JR or Excalibur - both do their parts just fine and I have no issues with those guys unlike some other folks - but Tony's voice is just full of joy and passion. It really does come off like he's having the time of his life calling these matches and I'd imagine that's truly the case. As someone who had only known him mostly from his time calling latter-day WCW and missing out on his prime years, it's nice to see a guy come back after a long absence fully invigorated and sharing the love with everyone.
So that was Dye-No-Mite. Fantastic stuff. Can't wait for next week.
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