It’s Friday and you know what that means! All Elite Wrestling has arrived in San Francisco for their ‘go home’ show of Dynamite leading into Revolution this Sunday. AEW tends to bring the fire with PPV preview shows. How did this one do?
Let’s find out!!
All Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Big Bill
Dynamite started with a bang this week, as Orange Cassidy took on Big Bill of the Firm in a great match that would start Cassidy’s dominance of the evening. Freshly Squeezed always puts on a great performance, but Big Bill Morrissey showed up as well. We need more of the big man! The Firm, in general, has surprised as a faction. More on them later.
Cassidy played a lot of cat and mouse at the beginning, which was hilarious until Bill used Stokely to distract him. This match was a perfect encapsulation of what makes Cassidy amazing. His comedy is top notch, which is not to be outdone by his underdog ring work.
Big Bill dominated Cassidy for a good portion, but Cassidy gained momentum after escaping a nasty Full Nelson. Multiple Orange Punches wouldn’t take the big man down, so Cassidy went to the top rope for an elevated Orange Punch to finish the job. A fun match to open Dynamite on a hot note.
3.5/5
Segments:
- After Dynamite last week, Moxley cut an intensely bloody promo about living his life to the fullest. He’s not the kind of guy you want to go down a dark alley with, which I believe him. Moxley bleeds a little too much, except it was incredibly effective here. The camera kept zooming in on the pool that was collecting under the former champion. He yells about protecting his spot as the top dog in AEW. Incredible promo.
- The Elite came out for what seemed like a segment, but was immediately interrupted by the House of Black! Malakai and his brethren attacked Kenny and the Bucks and stood tall with the Trios titles. Short, sweet, and effective are how segments should be! House of Black looked great holding those belts too.
Face of the Revolution Ladder Match
Up next was the Face of the Revolution Ladder match to determine who was next in line to face whoever won the TNT Title at Revolution. The contestants were Powerhouse Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita, Lucha sensation Kommander, Sammy Guevara, Eddie Kingston, Ortiz, Action Andretti, and AR Fox. Eight people felt like a huge number for a ladder match, but two of them left the match after two minutes.
This match can be summarized with one word: insane. There was a litany of insane moves that surely got somebody hurt. Kommander had some of the coolest highlights, as he walked an entire side of the ropes to deliver a massive flying move to everyone. That being said, everyone had a highlight here. It was crazy.
Everyone except Eddie Kingston and Ortiz, who decided that fighting each other backstage was more important than anything happening here. The bell literally rang and they left the match fighting each other. Eddie Kingston ‘quit’ AEW after the match too. Not exactly sure what that’s about. Maybe he’ll show up on Thursdays or something like that…
Everyone had their time to shine in this one, but in the end, Powerhouse Hobbs grabbed the brass ring to win himself a TNT title opportunity. Fantastic match that felt like an interstate fifty car pileup. One of the best ladder matches in recent AEW memory.
4/5
- Neither Trent nor Chuck was cleared for the Casino tag team royale after the Gunns beat them up last week, so Danhausen and Orange Cassidy are taking their place. Cool.
Segments:
- Up next was a quick match between Peter Avalon and Chris Jericho. Avalon tried to answer Ricky Starks last week, but Jericho gave him a quick Judas Effect. Peter Avalon felt embarrassed and wanted to take his piece of flesh from Jericho. Avalon killed it for two straight minutes. Were we about to see another Action Andretti upset? Nope! Jericho hit the Codebreaker out of nowhere to finish the match. Jericho took his frustration out on Avalon with Floyd the bat. Starks came down for the save, which triggered the JAS to beat him down too. It was nice to see Avalon on Dynamite, but JAS attacking Starks again makes Starks look dumb.
- Hangman responded to Moxley’s intense promo with a soft intensity. That sounds weird, but he somehow pulled it off. He knows what he has to do to beat Jon Moxley, but he doesn’t want to. He also cannot wait to take the top dog spot away from the BCC leader. This was great! The Texas Deathmatch is going to be brutal.
- Christian Cage’s interview with Renee Paquette was up next. He refuses to let Jack Perry win a singles championship before him. He talked about how different generations are going about the wrestling business and how he’s showcasing what to do instead. He challenged Jack for Revolution, who responds with a simple video package of him burying Christian Cage. This was perfect. Jungle Boy should win, but Cage winning wouldn’t surprise me either.
- A quick backstage interview with Jaime Hayter and Britt Baker followed that. They warned Saraya that they’ll be watching Storm’s match with Riho later, so don’t try any funny business. Cool.
FTW Championship: HOOK(c) vs. Matt Hardy
Henceforth, Game Over Gimmicks is a stan of The Firm. Everything they’ve been doing in the last couple months has been great. Matt Hardy, Ethan Page, and Stokely Hathaway have been comedy GOLD. This match was a perfect representation of that.
Commentary said that if Hook beat Matt Hardy that he would face Stokely Hathaway. Hook has been angry at Stokely ever since he was suspended for threatening The Firm leader. Well, Stokely better ready his ring gear because, despite Matt Hardy putting up a good fight, Hook defeated him fairly quickly. Ethan Page and Stokely did their damndest to help Hardy, to no avail.
Stokely is the absolute best. He looked like Hook just murdered his entire family when he realized he would be next on Hook’s hurt list. This was short and sweet!
3/5
- Short and sweet was the name of the game this evening. House of Black had the titles in an amazing backstage promo. They seem like they could actually dethrone the Elite.
Toni Storm vs. Riho
There are three guarantees in life: Death, Taxes, and the inevitability of Riho kicking ass. That’s how the saying goes, right? Well, the inaugural women’s champion returned to AEW this week for the first time since November and picked up right where she left off. She was amazing and had a good match with Toni Storm.
It makes perfect sense as to why Toni and Saraya would want a match with Riho, as she is, by definition, an AEW original. The original AEW Women’s champion was put on perfect display as she flew around the ring; using her body as a weapon to perfection. Heel Toni used her hip attack to gain control at one point, except Riho is too good to stay down for long!
At one point Britt Baker and Jaime Hayter came to the ring to neutralize Saraya’s interference, which played out well as Britt distracted Toni Storm and allowed Riho to get the sneaky pinfall! Riho got her first win back in AEW over a game Toni Storm. It was nice that the faces got one over on the heels before the pay-per-view.
3.5/5
Everyone started fighting immediately afterward. Toni obviously came after Britt Baker and Saraya confronted Jaime Hayter. Ruby Soho got into the fray as well. Poor Riho stuck in the middle not having any idea about what’s happening.
- Keith Lee and Dustin Rhodes had a backstage promo up next to announce that they are now a team! Naturally Limitless is an incredible name.
Casino Tag Team Royale
All Elite Wrestling is a mixed bag when it comes to Battle Royales, on the whole. Sometimes they’re lackluster, last week’s for example, and sometimes they’re super fun! This week was the latter! It could have been half the time though. This match felt way too long.
The Blackpool Combat Club opened the match and fully cemented themselves as heels, as they attacked The Dark Order before the match even began. AEW could use another good faction war with Blood and Guts coming in a couple of months. Blackpool Combat Club and Dark Order feuded throughout the whole match, as both were responsible for each other’s eliminations.
It’s pointless to go through the teams as the majority of tag teams were here. Aussie Open continued their AEW tour and almost won the whole thing. They almost lasted until the end. The Kingdom had a memorable section where they accidentally super kicked Maria and were eliminated directly after.
In the end, Danhausen surprised Butcher and Blade and eliminated them both to win the Casino Battle Royale for Best Friends. This was a surprise, in all honestly, but having Orange Cassidy on a PPV is never a bad idea. He’s a huge star.
Main Event Segment:
- AEW doesn’t main event segments too often, but it’s a killer segment when they do. Renee Paquette interviewed Bryan Danielson. They talk about MJF quitting his job while Bryan was forced to retire. MJF interrupts, but Danielson immediately shuts him down. THIS WAS AWESOME. Bryan simplified MJF’s position against him: MJF is jealous of everything Bryan is and has. I had chills listening to Danielson cut this promo. I am soooo ready for this Iron Man match! MJF didn’t even say a word!
Overall
And that was the Revolution ‘go home’ show for AEW Dynamite!!! This episode was a blast from start to finish. Revolution is a good card, but it needed a little spark. I think this episode of Dynamite did just that. Every match was fun and each segment provided good context for storylines happening. All in all a good episode, but a great lead-in to the PPV. Two hours of five star matches are not the way to build up a PPV!
Verdict: 4/5