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THIS SATURDAY (possibly) LIVE ON PPV, AEW PRESENTS DOUBLE OR NOTHING….so we’re reminded as we begin tonight’s episode of Dynamite. The Inner Circle arrives in style, a stretch limo and verbally eviscerate Alex Marvez, even making the word “nincompoop” seem cool.
We are kicking things off in high gear, 10 of the mighty Dark Order vs. AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. My/The Exalted One addresses the camera, 10 takes a knee, a PROPER knee, dammitt. Odd promo, to say the least. He declares himself just a man, not a god, which he has never even alluded to. He finally gets to the point of saying he has to win Saturday to earn the loyalty of his men. He declares 10 a High Knight of the Dark Order and orders 10 hurt Moxley.
Mox hits the ring and is on a tear. Kind of odd to throw 10 to the wolves, given he’s had some pretty good showings up to now. OK the good show showings continue, 10’s getting some offense in. Not sure who he is or where he comes from (I’m guessing a QT Marshall student). Of course as soon as I said that, the announcers acknowledge him as Preston Vance. Mox is back to work, beating down 10, hitting the Paradigm Shift. 10 clearly failed to hurt Moxley. The Exalted One will be most displeased.
Mox ain’t done. He wraps up 10s arm up in a chair and gives Lee 10 seconds to return the belt or else 10 suffers a broken arm. On the screen, Mr. Lee reminds us we’re in the time of sacrifices. Moxley comes down with a chair on 10’s entrapped arm. Decent set up to the AEW World Title match.
We are reminded that TNT will have a Double or Nothing preview on Friday at 10PM
MJF’s music reminds us that’s he’s better than us and we know it.
Mr. Fun Size provides the opposition and that stupid Pineapple Pete is in the front row. The announce team pays respect to Shad Gaspard, may he rest in peace. Shad died a bonafide hero, sacrificing himself to save his child. No better testimonial can be given to a man.
I respect Stunt, you have to admire the young man but there’s a very significant degree of unbelievability when he’s out there. Luckily this has been a total squash up til now. MJF does the classic “stop hitting yourself” routine as he makes Stunt pick his own nose and eat the remains (yes, I wrote that). Now we get the Stunt comedy spots where he’s got the advantage. MJF is great as the foil for this kind of thing. One Fujiwara armbar later and that’s all she wrote for Stunt.
Mic time for MJF. This ought to be good. Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy make the save. Wardlow and Luchsauarus with another face off. This inevitable confrontation should be a good one.
Speaking of mic time, Double A Arn Anderson and Jake the Snake Roberts are just about ready for their face to face before Saturday’s TNT Championship final. Imagine the promos those 2 could have had in 1987 leading up to a match?
I find it funny that Jake clearly wears his WWE HOF ring on AEW television. Jake tears into Cody. Arn and Jake both acknowledge how surreal it is that the two of them are finally, for the first time ever, face-to-face in a ring. For me, it’s extra surreal with Schiavone acting as the host. Jake actually challenges Arn to square off. Arn reveals that Iron Mike Tyson will have free reign over the match, meaning he can go anywhere in the building he wants during this match. Arn extolls Cody’s leadership. The war of words ends when Jake turns over the table the 2 almost come to blows. A master class in promo-ship here.
We get a little video feature of Darby Allin psyching himself up for the Saturday Casino Ladder Match.
Apparently TNT doesn’t care if I watch “Snowpiercer” anymore, given the lack of commercials
After 2 months, we hear from Pac, warning Orange Cassidy of what Rey Fenix is going to do to him. Speaking of Cassidy and Fenix, it’s time for their match. Fenix tries for a pre match attack but gets side stepped. Cassidy, hands in pockets, goes to work. For the record, this is already 10X better than the Cassidy v Jimmy Havoc match.
Commercial time and, whaddayaknow, TNT does want me to watch SnowPiercer.
We’re back and Cassidy begins his comeback. These 2 are really going here. Fenix looked like he went for a rana off the top rope but Cassidy never went alone. Fenix with an amazing springboard powerbomb. Cassidy reverses a muscle buster into a small package for 2. Kip Sabian sets a ladder up at ringside to scout 2 of his opponents. Fenix nails a cutter on a distracted Cassidy for the win. SCU flips Sabian off the ladder. We got a donnybrook with everyone in the ladder match involved. YIKES it looks like everyone on planet Earth forgot to catch Fenix when he went for the Asai Moonsault. OUCH!!!
Time now for everyone’s role model, Dr. Britt Baker and Nyla Rose to take on Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander in a 2 for 1 preview of Saturday. Rose is in full control to kick this off but Baker wants nothing to do with a tag in. Great heel move. No sense in helping out your possible future opponent. She’s such a natural heel. Rose with a choke on her own partner forces the tag. Funny thing here about the way this match unfolds: I 100% see Baker, Shida and Statlander as stars, the way they carry themselves, they way the wrestle (even Baker as the cowardly heel). Rose just isn’t coming off as a must-see star. She’s back in there and Shida is all over her. For a monster, she gets beaten down way too much.
Britt Baker may be hurt. It looks as though someone is tending to her in the corner as Nyla Rose pins Shida. Post match, Statlander stops Rose from splashing Shida through a table. Shida, in turn, suplexes Rose through a table. So the end result of all of this is the monster getting laid out. Honestly doesn’t make sense to me why Rose would go into the big match as the one weakened.
Time for SSN (Shawn Spears News). Spears announces Dustin Rhodes has retired (I’m guessing this is a “fake news” angle. He makes jokes at Dustin’s past drug use. After announcing Dustin’s retirement, he challenges Rhodes to a match at DON. And 45 seconds later, Jim Ross announces that the match is official between Spears and Rhodes. That was…quick.
Main event time, Spanish God Sammy Guevara vs Matt Hardy. Guevara comes out wearing the new Le Sex Gods T shirt that I personally will look sexy in when mine arrives.
Tonight’s show hasn’t been much of a show so much as it’s been a commercial for Double or Nothing, which I completely understand they need to push, but AEW has done very little to advance any particular storyline headed into the show. We’ve seen exactly zero members of the actual Elite yet and we’ve got 18 minutes of TV time left. There’s been little to no interaction with the ringsiders tonight.
Guevara cartwheels out of a cutter and misses a springboard cutter. Not sure if this is Damascus or Broken Matt. Final commercial of the night. Just before commercial, JR teased that we haven’t seen the Elite together in a very long time. That probably telegraphs things to come. The announcers have the almighty gall to question if Guevara’s neck brace from last week was legit or not. Excalibur just revealed that the entire stadium is fair game in the Stadium Stampede match. This week, it’s Sammy who’s tougher than a $2 steak.
For the second time in a few weeks, Guevara gets his boot pulled off and his toes bit. You can’t say Matt Hardy will do whatever is necessary to win. A second Twist of Fate and Matt Hardy is your winner. For those keeping score that is another job Sammy Guevara has had to do for an Elite or an Elite associate.
On the screen, the rest of the Inner Circle is beating down Omega as Hager throws a bucket of water on the Cleaner. I’m not exactly sure what effect that has but the Young Bucks make their 1st appearance in months to help. Hangman Page runs the 100 to completely even the odds. The Inner Circle and the Elite square off as the show goes off the air. A little tease to be sure for Saturday night but, unless you’re an absolute die-hard intent on buying the PPV, these last 2 hours did little to whet one’s appetite.
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