IT’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
Heya folks! It’s yours truly, Irishblade, coming at you with another episode review of your favorite show and mine (talking to you Vince), AEW Dynamite. Things and stuff happened last week that got the internet talking. Or at least the part I care about. I mean, Iron Mike Tyson! He must love me because he’s back again this week! Oops, spoiler alert. If you disappeared without a trace this week, you probably missed AEW Dark: Elevation & Dark on the Youtube. Quit skipping good wrestling! Let’s not forget, this is your only option on Wednesdays now that AEW knocked NXT down to Tuesday nights! Now, onto this week’s show, which you most certainly did not miss, right? Right? RIGHT?!?
I’m so used to this show starting with a wrestling match that it’s bizarre to me to see it start with a backstage promo/video recap. This one comes at the hands (well faces, really) of the Young Bucks explaining that they chose friendship last week. Matt announces (because apparently the new Nick is mute) that it’s time to show a new and better version of the Young Bucks. They cut their jacket streamers and everything! WTF, Buck?!?
Two backstage spots! MJF interrupts a Mike Tyson promo and Max, WHY would you interrupt Mike Tyson doing anything?!? MJF hands Mike a blank check to be on the right side of history and Tyson, showing early signs of CTE, rips up the check and puts it in his mouth. Seriously, Mike, why wouldn’t you just keep the check, do what you’re gonna do and cash that money in?
POP: WRESTLING!
When I want wrestling, AEW gives me what I want: Rey Fenix. He and PAC going for the tag straps against the aforementioned newer, better Bucks is our kickoff match tonight. For anyone that’s been paying attention the last few months, I absolutely adore Rey Fenix. He’s my jam, my peanut butter, hell, he’s the whole sandwich. The Bucks come out wearing all white with no streamers (though the furry shoulders are an…interesting touch) and accompanied by Don Callis. What a jackal that guy is.
Callis joins the boys on commentary and the AEW announcers vs. Don Callis feud continues. I know I’ve said it before but I absolutely love the hatred they have for Callis. It’s fantastic. Speaking of fantastic, these two teams go back and forth with High Energy….I mean with high energy just as we all expected them to do. They run so many counters that rarely does one team have a prolonged advantage over the other. Unfortunately for Death Triangle (and my sweet, sweet Fenix), the Bucks get the advantage when it matters most – right before the pinfall. Blonde Buck hits a low blow on PAC and then proves that he’s the real bastard by PULLING OFF REY FENIX’ MASK and hurtling it in to the crowd. What is wrong with you, Bucks!? You can’t do that! They give Fenix the superkick party and that’s all she wrote. Rey deserves better! That being said, what a banger! Almost a half hour of fast-paced tag team action. Wow. Feed. Me. More.
This happened:
#AEW Men's #1 Contender #HangmanPage (@theAdamPage) provides an injury update on #DarkOrder's #JohnSilver (@SilverNumber1).
Tune into #AEWDynamite Now on TNT – and every Wednesday at 8/7c! pic.twitter.com/9Ix7wNF2Fl
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 15, 2021
When we come back from break, Marvez found the Inner Circle backstage with Mike Tyson. He actually gets his question answered this time by the King of IT All, Chris Jericho. Take notes, Hangman! Tyson says he’s firm but fair and the best man will win. If Jericho gets into any shenanigans tonight, he’s going to get knocked out again, just like in 2010 (on a Monday night).
POP: Queen Cargill
Remember last month, when Red Velvet teamed with Cody to take on Jade Cargill and her little basketball friend? Well, apparently Shaq died because other than a quick picture of him and Jade posing at the top of the ramp prior to that match, he’s not even mentioned. To be honest, I actually like it. It keeps the focus on Jade and Velvet without cheapening what they can do. And what they can do is amazing! Velvet attacks Jade right out of the gate and the fight is on! I love seeing this urgent side of Velvet. She knows Jade is the E-R of AEW (faster, stronger, bigger, etc-er) compared to her and has to get an edge. Velvet also hits a beautiful tope’ suicida to the outside. Alas, it was not to be, as Cargill showed by she is The Next Big Thing by hitting Jaded to take out Velvet.
BOTCH: Go, Go, Ogogo, Go!
England’s Best, Anthony Ogogo comes out for his first match of all time against Anthony Carter. Ogogo is joined by the other members of The Factory. Let’s face it. This was a squash match. We didn’t get to see anything Ogogo could really do except throw a body punch that killed Carter. The ref called it after that one punch so there was literally nothing to get excited about with this guy. That is, unless you were shocked that the Olympic boxer could punch real hard.
We get an “indepth” look at Miro! Yay! He is reaching out to Kip because he hasn’t talked to him since losing Arcade Anarchy. He tells Kip he’s moving on with or without him so he can fulfill his destiny of becoming a champion. He then threatens every champion on the roster and tells them all to disappear like Kip before he finds them. RUN, SHIDA, RUN!!
POP: The Baddest Man in Pink Shorts on the Planet
Shoutout to Justin Roberts for his introduction of Iron Mike Tyson. You can see the joy all over Roberts’ face, which reminded me of Moxley getting Jake’s snake draped over him years ago. Tyson comes out looking like he just stepped off a yacht, rocking the pink shorts with a white t-shirt and matching boat shoes. Dax comes out next flanked by Cash and Tully. Judas in My Mind hits and out comes out Le Sex Gods, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, still in black from last week’s big return. Aubrey sends Tully to the back as each competitor can only have one “manager” each.
I’m always interested to see how involved a special enforcer gets or in which way. They set the expectation early in this one as the action almost immediately dumps to the outside and Jericho grabs a chair. Tyson takes the chair, which actually distracts Jericho, who gets punched in the face for it. Dax then grabs Jericho’s bat and Tyson rips that out of his hand as well, causing Dax to get distracted. There was also a nice bit where Dax feigned injury at the doctor’s desk and hit Jericho with the microphone before Tyson knew what was going on. Jericho responded in kind and stabbed Dax in the head with an ink pen. You read that right.
MJF and The Pinnacle come out but they get in an all-out brawl with The Inner Circle, who followed them out. Cash grabs the bat to hit Jericho but Tyson is right there and knocks him completely out. Great sell by Cash, going with the dead arm fall. As the chaos dissipates, Jericho sneaks in a Judas Effect and just like that, FTR is asleep. Inner Circle and Tyson get in the ring while The Pinnacle licks their chops on the outside. Jericho announces that Tyson is officially an ancillary member of The Inner Circle.
Marvez finds the Elite back in the parking lot but naturally, he gets booted right away. Callis announces that now that they have the Young Bucks in the fold, this is just the beginning. Matt Jackson starts to drop some bars but forgets to rhyme the rest of it. He puts the AEW tag division on notice. Callis grabs the mic back and tells us to prepare to be surprised again. The Bucks feign a superkick party at the cameraman then Callis jumps in and superkicks him instead. Callis vs. the Cameraman – Grudge match. Book it!
POP: Alien Sighting!
Kris Statlander makes her in-ring Dynamite return, facing Amber Nova. Naturally, she starts off by booping the nose of referee, Paul Turner. This is her first match back since June of last year so I’m excited to be reintroduced to The Galaxy’s Greatest Alien. This was nothing more than a glorified squash match but it was able to show Statlander’s strength, speed and athleticism. This told us much more about her than Ogogo’s match did about him. She plants Nova with the Supernova to end it and she celebrates with the Best Friends.
Before we get to Schiavone interviewing Christian Cage in the ring, we have a backstage promo with Team Taz. He informs Brian Cage (no relation, I think) Ricky Starks that they won’t be coming out to confront Christian. He only needs Hook and Hobbs to go out with him. They interrupt Christian’s interview and Christian emphatically tells them that he does not accept their invite to join Team Taz. Hobbs comes down to the ring and beats the ever loving hell out of Christian. Taz said all he needed was Hook and Hobbs but….I don’t know why he needed Hook. He just stood there while Hobbs demolished Christian. *shrug*
POP: The Fall that Counted Everywhere
Matt Hardy vs Darby Allin for the TNT Title is everything you want in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. It’s also a great Veteran/New Guy combo that we haven’t seen yet. The announce team astutely points out that this is Hardy’s 28th year of wrestling and Darby’s 28th year being alive. That’s insane. We get a lot of chair based offense in this one, mainly because Matt Hardy started the match wielding one. Darby gets the upper hand; however, the Matt Hardy Empire was ready. Private Party, Butcher AND Blade come out and Butch throws a steel trash can right at Darby’s face. After a quick Darby beatdown (a Darbeatdown?), the Dark Order and (ancillary member?) Sting come out to even the odds. Randomly, All Ego Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky come out but are cut off by Lance Archer. He runs them off and Archer runs in the ring to confront Sting. He runs over and hits the Blackout on Isiah Kassidy.
We finally remember there is a championship match taking place as the focus got (far) away from Darby and Hardy there for a minute. Hardy hits Allin with a low blow and then a Twist of Fate with the chair around Darby’s neck. He drags Allin to the back and sets him on a table. He climbs a conspicuously placed ladder and hits the leg drop. That won’t kill Darby though, and really, what will? Darby kicks Matt Hardy in the balls to get the upper hand. He grabs Sting’s bat and beats down Matt. He then beats the hell out of the announce desk and lays Hardy on the table. He climbs the stage rigging and hits a Coffin Drop through the table to retain his championship! Darby looks like he’s been involved in a train wreck but he’s your TNT Champ so he’s down with it.
This was a fun match to watch and a great Main Event bout. My only qualm is how much the focus was on the shenanigans of Sting, the Dark Order, Private Party, Butcher, the Blade and Lance Archer. Somehow, with all that, we didn’t get a Jake Roberts appearance, which breaks my heart. So that’s a lot of people to come out but it was somewhat quick except the Sting/Archer part. I just can’t express how much I appreciate Darby Allin. I don’t know that there’s been a segment with him that he hasn’t impressed me. Let’s be honest, that’s not hard to do but Darby is hitting 100% still!
Anyway, that’s it for me today! Enjoy your week everyone! Feel free to leave a comment below (good or bad, I’ll answer them all!) and share the column with your friends, family and followers. And seriously, join the Discord for good talk with good people. Wrestling united!
