IT’S FRIDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
Heya folks! We cashed in on AEW Double or Nothing Sunday and AEW Dark on Tuesday so we are ready to roll with AEW Dynamite! We’re pushed back to Friday again, which is always weird but I kind of dig it. I don’t know. I’m weird, you guys. It’s Pride Month, too, so I expect to see a lot of beautiful Pride Gear throughout the show! Double or Nothing built some really nice stories and I’m excited to see where they get tonight!
One of my favorite tropes (though it’s hardly a trope), is that AEW starts their wrestling program off with wrestling. Tonight shall be no different as The Bastard Pac and one half of his remaining triangle mates, Penta El Zero Miedo, come out to the ring for their revenge tag match against the Young Bucks! We miss you, Fenix. Let’s jump right in, everyone!
POP: A Cold Dish Served Warm
Oh man, before the match can even start, the self-proclaimed Elite Hunter, Frankie Kazarian comes out and whips Michael Nakazawa’s ass while he’s sitting ringside. Speaking of stories, that one is starting right away. Kazarian being a guy who just takes cheap shots when The Elite aren’t expecting it is something I can get (and am 100%) behind! With these four guys, you just know the damn match was going to be fast and furious and these boys did not disappoint. Pac got the violence started early by hitting a Slingshot Cutter, which although it defies all physics, is just so beautiful to see in action. Matt Jackson was in rare form being a 1990s Shawn Michaels type arrogant heel. His mannerisms, facial expressions and overall assholery is a spitting image. Poor Nick.
The teams battle back and forth before Pac can slap a hot tag on Penta. He hits a couple of Slingblades and a Lungblower/Senton combo, which was rad. Pac stalks back in and kicks the shit out of Matt for a few minutes. The action gets crazier than a hooker on meth and Penta and Nick have an apron-move-showdown as Penta hits Matt with a Package Piledriver at the same time as Nick hits a German Suplex on Pac. Nick rips off Penta’s mask but Penta was prepared! He hits a Nick Dick Kick to set up a Pac Black (Arrow) Attack but Matt breaks it up. Pac goes up top again but that damn Brandon Cutler hits Pac with his camera and Nick stacks Pac up for the win! The Bucks jump Death Triangle but Eddie Kingston comes out to make the save.
This match ruled so hard. I don’t care what else happens the rest of the show – watching that first 15 minutes made this whole endeavor worth it already. As someone who is admittedly not well-versed in independent wrestling, I really appreciate how AEW puts guys together that have that chemistry that allow them to just go balls out for 15 minutes and make it seem fresh. Give me more!
POP – Muy No Tranquilo
Mark Henry comes out for an interview with Tony Schiavone. Tony asks him if he’ll get back in the ring as an active competitor. Henry leaves the door open and then EXCUSE ME! Vickie Guerrero arrives on scene and kicks Mark and Tony to the outside. She introduces AEWs newest acquisition, ANDRADE EL IDOLO! He’s here! He’s ours! OH. SHIT. Notice the all caps! Andrade tells us he used to be the face of Latin wrestling but will soon be the face of All Elite Wrestling. Yes, sir! It’s all yours!
POP: Grudge Match Glory
Cody and Big Shotty Lee Johnson come out to fight Anthony Ogogo and QT Marshall in a grudge match. I assume the grudge is Cody beating Ogogo but I think Ogogo should be pissed he didn’t go over and now wants to fight everyone about it! It doesn’t take long for Ogogo and Cody to mix it up. Marshall distracts Cody so Ogogo suplexes him across the ring to get advantage. Action spills to the outside so Ogogo and Marshall beat on Shotty while Cody catches his breath on the opposite apron.
After the commercial, Cody gets the hot tag and storms the ring like his hair is on fire, which really, that color isn’t good, Cody. Set your hair on fire so it goes back to black. No offense, Inner Circle. Cody’s hot tag is great as he demolishes QT and Ogogo then locks in a figure four on QT. Ogogo hits the frog splash on Cody. QT hits a cutter and pins Cody but Cody had to kick out since Shotty botched the timing and broke it up late. Aaron Solow runs out and distracts the ref so Ogogo jumps in and hits the KO Punch on Cody and QT gets the three on Cody!
I’m not going to lie, I thought the only reason Big Shotty was in there was to eat the pin and take the L for his team. I was pleasantly surprised to see Cody get pinned in the middle of the ring. Also of note, Cody had our first piece of Pride Gear! Now, I wasn’t a big fan of the production (missed the Ogogo frog splash) and Big Shotty missing his cue to break up the pin but Cody saved that one by kicking out so it wasn’t AS glaring. All being said, it wasn’t as great as the opening tag and definitely not as great as El Idolo showing up but it served a purpose and maybe put this feud to bed so all parties can move on.
Judas hits and out comes your favorite dad and mine, Chris Jericho! Flanked by Guevara, Hager, Santana and Ortiz, they hit the ring and Jerico announces everyone in attendance gets a Stadium Stampede Inner Circle shirt. Sure enough, everyone looks under their chair and holds up their shirts. Sick! Chris “Ellen” Jericho cmes through again. Santana points out that FTR tried to end their careers so the Inner Circle/Pinnacle shit isn’t over. Hager grabs the mic and challenges Wardlow to an MMA cage fight….on Dynamite in two weeks! Jericho looks directly into the camera and lets MJF know that this feud will never die between the two of them and he vows that he’s going to beat MJF.
Passionate Jericho is so amazing. But seriously, look at the screengrab on that video above. How has Hager not learned to flip someone off yet. Tuck the thumb, bro! Well, now it sounds like we’re going to have an Inner Circle/Pinnacle fight forever feud and I’m down with it. I just hope they intersperse a bunch of side feuds for everyone so it’s not too repetitive.
We find the Best Friends in the back. Chuck recaps what happened at Double or Nothing and Trent tells Kenny Omega that “the sunglass comedy guy” beat him twice. He calls out Don Callis and points out the bad guys cheated and they won. Orange Cassidy promises them it’s not over. Kris Statlander said nothing. Marvez ambushes Kenny, Don and Nakazawa in the back watching the Double or Nothing Match. Callis says there is a conspiracy to get the title off Omega and they will prove it next week on Dynamite. Nakazawa is on the case, after all. They hum Jungle Boy’s theme song and force Marvez to dance with them before he sends us to the ring for Jungle Boy and Christian taking on Private Party!
BOTCH: The Party is Over but the Story is Stagnant
Christian starts out and before you can even get off the couch, he’s already tagged Jungle Boy into the match. Then, before you could sit down, he tags Christian back in the ring. It’s almost like Christian and Jungle Boy have wrestled a tag team match or two in their time. The Private Party pair took the upper hand on Christian then immediately made fun of he and Edge’s old five second flash photography opportunity. They promptly got their asses handed to them for the trouble.
Private Party goes for the Gin & Juice but Christian takes out Cassidy and Jungle Boy locks Mark Quen in the Snare Trap until he taps! Christian and Jungle Boy celebrate in the ring. Kenny Omega doesn’t come out to beat the hell out of Jungle Boy but Matt Hardy does ambush Christian on the stage to set up this story 20 years in the making. Glad to see these two up-and-comers getting a real chance to shine on TV! *wink at the hard camera*
Before I get started on what I didn’t like about this match, I just want to mention how much I appreciate Christian and Jungly Jack starting off with quick tags and a focused, arm-based offense. This wasn’t my favorite match ever, though. Not that all the matches are instantly five star classics based off the official Irishblade Power ratings but this one was just pretty boring. Also, I don’t know if the Young Bucks making fun of WWE legends at Double or Nothing was super funny to their fellow AEW wrestlers but now Private Party is doing it (at least it was against someone they were fighting!) so we may have a trope developing!
Tony is in the ring and introduces Darby Allin and (It’s) Sting. The Stinger comes out in a pretty sick StingxDarby shirt to thank the fans for their unwavering support in his first match back. He is almost immediately interrupted by Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page who claim Sting is the only reason Darby was a winner at Double or Nothing. They challenge Darby to a rematch but his partner can’t be Sting. That’s a new way to write a guy out of the story. I like it.
POP: La Champion is Here!
When we come back from the commercial, Tony is in the ring AGAIN. But this time, he’s brought friends with him! TH2 is out here with Serpentico, Luther, Vickie Guerrero, Nyla Rose and (of course) The Wingmen. Tony introduces AEW’s newest champion, Dr. Britt Baker DMD. Honestly, Tony’s lack of enthusiasm on the DMD was disappointing. He was all D.M.D. and I’m expecting him (while screaming it in my living room) to shout D! M! D! Come on Tony, it’s your best pal! Give her the Sting treatment for God’s sake.
Baker and Rebel come out and there’s a table full of cheeseburgers as her celebration supper. Also, I’m now hungry. Dr. Britt brags about everyone tuning in to see her even though nobody has been rolling with her since day one. She says Rebel and Tony can share a burger with her since they’ve been supporting her the longest. They do the Shield fist bump with the burgers but that damned Nyla Rose knocks the burgers out of their hands and starts throwing them to the crowd. With a quick little spin and one-fingered salute, her and Vickie leave the ring and ends the party. Well, that certainly wasn’t very nice. Marvez finds sweet baby Eddie Kingston in the back and this happens. I just want you to all hear Eddie speak. That’s all. Alright, now that all that talking is over, let’s get back to the ring for some action!
POP: Women, Wrestling!
The Bunny and The Blade come out sans a butcher to face off against Red Velvet. Apparently, Big Swole is still pissed about eating the brass knucks so Red Velvet will surely defend her honor! These two put on a good wrestling match. Velvet was able to show off her boxing pedigree with some body blows in the corner before choking Bunny with her foot while doing the splits. All I know, is it hurt to watch, okay? After Bunny gets advantage with a giant thrust kick, the Blade slips her the brass knuckles (shouldn’t he be handing her a blade of some sort?) and she swings and misses on Velvet. Red hits her with the Just Desserts and that’s all she wrote.
This was a really good match. I enjoyed it from start to finish. Big ol’ Fat Ass Botch to AEW for not having a single clip of the match on their Twitter. I’m sorry ladies but I really did love the match!
POP: Comor-Oh No!
Dustin Rhodes and Nick Comoroto come out to murder each other with a ranch hand’s tool. I was pleased to find that Dustin has only lost once in 14 tries in a bullrope match. I bet you’re wondering who beat him. Me too! Best I can tell is that he lost in his first bullrope match against Black Bart TWENTY-TWO years ago! All that tells me is that he’s on a 13 bullrope match winning streak. Coupled that with Comoroto’s overall twelve match winning streak and we have ourselves some stakes! Let’s go!
They meet on the ramp and the fight is on. Granted, they still need to get strapped together. Once they do though, they hit each other with everything they have. These are two big dudes attached by a giant bullrope and having a hoss match in 2021. No flips, just fists. Or something like that. The match spills to the outside and into the crowd. Comoroto piefaces Fuego del Sol then throws him into the other members of the audience after Sol jumps on his back. Dustin takes advantage of the distraction and knocks Comoroto back over the barricade, busting him open.
Aaron Solow tries to get involved but eats a powerslam by Dustin. Thanks to that distraction, Comoroto nails Dustin with a Spear. Comoroto slams Dustin into the barricade face first then rolls him back into the ring. Comoroto beats him about the ring for awhile as Solow sets up a table on the outside. Dustin baits Comoroto into charging him so Dustin pulls down the top rope and Comoroto ends up on the apron. Dustin chokes him with the rope and joins him on the apron. Dustin knocks him to the outside with a cowbell to the face.
Dustin goes for a kick but Comoroto catches his foot and powerbombs him through the table! Comoroto rolls him in for a pin but somehow, Dustin kicks out! Solow gets in and removes the turnbuckle padding. He gets pulled down by Colten Gunn. Gunn beats him up as Dustin gives Comoroto a bulldog. He hits Final Reckoning on top of the cowbell and Comoroto kicks out after one! Dustin gives Big Nick a Dick Kick and drops him snake-eyes style on the exposed turnbuckle. For good measure, he rings Comoroto’s bell with the cowbell and hits a top rope bulldog. Dustin stacks him up and has now won 14 straight bullrope matches! Legendary!
Man, it’s great to see Dustin still going strong after all these years. I just can’t help but love the guy and he’s a hell of a follow on Twitter. I was impressed with Nick Comoroto also. That dude is going to be a big deal in this company and in wrestling as a whole. He’s the whole package. If Brodie Lee and Bruiser Brody had a baby it would be Nick Comoroto. I can’t wait to write my AEW Dynamite article in 2043 and talk about how the only bullrope match Nick Comoroto ever lost was this one back in June of 2021 against Dustin Rhodes. Of course, that show will probably open with Dustin vs. Jericho in a battle of the DDP Yoga empire.
That wraps up another special Friday Night Dynamite! 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. You can find me on there, Instagram or Twitter (all are @robbywardshow). Please hit me up with what you liked, what you hated, what you think I can change. I’m all ears! Wrestling united!
