IT’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
Heya folks! It’s time for a TNT return of AEW Dynamite! It’s not like AEW went full gear on producing some other show since the last time we spoke, right….? Right….? Ahhhh, who am I kidding!?? Saturday night, we had a BANGING Full Gear. If you missed it, I highly recommend getting it through one of their providers. It was an AJ Styles-type show. No, no, no, I don’t mean it looked like a soccer mom, I mean that it was PHENOMENAL. That completely checks out, especially after last week’s great go-home Dynamite. Now that we have Full Gear behind us, it’s time to reset – Cowboy Shit style! Speaking of people that used to be cowboys…whatever happened to Freddie Joe Floyd??
POP: National Cowboy Shit Day!
Ya know, whenever there is one of these National *Insert Holiday* Days, you can usually find Google has switched their little logo to incorporate said day. Maybe the o’s are donuts on National Donut Day. Or the e is a giant taco on National Taco Day. As I’m looking at Google right now, I see neither a cowboy or any semblance of shit in their logo. The Dark Order introduces (And) new AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page to the ring. Hangman rightfully tells the crowd he did not, in fact, deserve the championship but that he EARNED it.
Before he can finish calling out the “American Dragon, Bryan Danielson,” the ol’ Dragon’s music hits and Danielson hits the ring. He’s a nice guy so of course he congratulates Page and shakes his hand in the middle of the ring. And then….magic happens. And I don’t think it was planned. The crowd starts chanting “Cowboy Shit” as Virginians are wont to do and Danielson goes full heel on Page. He even brags about wrestling the day after winning the world championship at Wrestlemania(!) while Page is out here flapping his gums. The crowd absolutely (and rightfully) shits all over the mention of Wrestlemania and Danielson doubles down. It was FANTASTIC!
POP: As the Dragon Turns (Heel)
Look. I don’t want to sit here and pretend like Daniel Bryanson ever had a chance at losing this match. He swore he’d go through each member of Page’s social circle one by one and tonight, he started with Evil Uno. I can admit this much, though. When Bryan Danielson is fighting as a heel, he’s an absolute dick. He is fighting so aggressive, so stiff. Just check out the forearm at the end of this clip. Heel Bryan Danielson is AWESOME!
Danielson puts Evil Uno down with a Dragon Sleeper. Tony Schiavone jumps in the ring to talk to Danielson and he goes ham on the Dark Order. He’s ready to kill them all. Better yet, he calls out Colt Cabana to fight next week in Cabana’s hometown of Chicago! This is a great way to kick off Cowboy Shit Day, I know that’s right! Give me heel Bryan Danielson all day, every day. It’s been awhile since he was heel and man, I don’t remember it AT ALL being this glorious. Holy cow, I love it.
POP: Pure Chaos
Well, this is big news. NJPW’s very own, Neverweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii is making his AEW debut tonight! As members of the Chaos faction, he teams with Orange Cassidy against The Butcher and the Blade. Looking at this guy, I can see why they call Ishii the Stone Pitbull. Wow. This dude is built like a brick shithouse. Or like a 16 pound bowling ball. My goodness. Blade tries to go toe to toe with him but let’s just say, it doesn’t bode well for The Blade.
The action spills to the outside but having Chaos and the Best Friends in their corner turns out to be a godsend for Cassidy and Ishii. After they dispatch the Hardy Family Office, Ishii hits the Teardrop Brainbuster on the Blade and that’s all she wrote, y’all. Cassidy and Ishii pull of the win. Chaos-1, Hardy Family Office-0. I’m starting to think this Chaos partnership might actually be what tips the scales in Orange Cassidy’s favor in his ongoing feud against Matt Hardy. With all these different folks coming in from different organizations, at what point is the door just a door and no longer considered forbidden? Things that make ya go hmmm……
POP: Beast Mode
The announce teams rightfully makes a big deal out of the fact that between the two competitors in our next match, they have 101 combined wins. Hikaru Shida has 51 wins in AEW with Nyla Rose right behind her at 50. Nyla was so close to getting a trophy, too. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get a trophy for being the second woman to 50 wins but she still has a shot in this TBS Championship Tournament. The biggest problem is, she has to go through Hikaru Shida to get to the next round.
Both women definitely show a huge sense of urgency in this match. Nyla even pulled off the best missed senton I’ve seen in some time. I’m used to seeing folks miss through a ladder but somehow, this one seems ten times more painful. Not only did Shida have to deal with Nyla Rose, which is a feat in its own right, she had to deal with interference from both Vickie Guerrero and Serena Deeb. Shida is able to overcome both women sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong; however, it was just a bit too much for Shida to capitalize. After the chop block (and subsequent 15 yard penalty), Shida’s knee was shot. Once Nyla locked in the standing Stretch Muffler, Shida didn’t stand a chance. For those keeping track at home (lookin’ at you, announce team), this leaves Nyla and Shida tied at 51 wins apiece! Does the first one to 52 get a trophy? Maybe Nyla still has a chance!
Are you wondering what would happen if MJF and CM Punk got in the ring together with a microphone in hand? Wonder no more. Well, this should be fun!
POP: Fly Away, Oh Glory
Welp, we get another rap from Max Caster:
Yo! Listen, listen! Yo!
Dante’s fightin’ the Acclaimed again,
He’s got more partners than Pete Davidson.
You can’t make a choice
You a little bitch,
Put some bass in your voice.
Yo Lio, you a amateur
And I think you’re better off
As a manager.
We leavin’ y’all hurtin’
Funny, we’re in Virginias
And both y’all are virgins.
This is definitely not one of Caster’s best raps. Not even close. It might even be his worst one, if I may say so myself. Now, what do you expect when you’re going against AEW’s greatest tag team, Highest Flight? I’m going to put this out there and I’ll stand by it til I die, Caster’s rap was so lame because Dante and Lio have him SHOOK. Yeah, I said it. Plus, even if he isn’t shook, Anthony Bowens definitely is. Or dizzy. He might just be dizzy.
The match ends after Martin hits a springboard nosedive on Bowens. He then rolls Bowens in position for a HUGE Lio Rush frog splash for the win. Down goes the #4 ranked team in AEW. But oh no no, we get Team Taz out here after the match. Taz and his goon come out to make another pitch to Dante Martin to leave Lio Rush and join Team Taz. The good news for Dante is that he doesn’t have to make a decision right away as Ricky Starks lets him know they’re a patient lot and will wait for him….just like they did for Powerhouse Hobbs. Let the games begin! Maybe Dante Martin will open his recruitment like a 5-star linebacker. Take a couple visits, get to know the teams and then make a decision on national TV at halftime of the Super Bowl or whatever.
POP: Pomp and Circumstance
I’m not going to lie. As I was typing, Jay Lethal’s music just hit as he came out for his match with Sammy Guevara. I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought the fuckin’ Macho Man was coming out. Holy shit, that stopped my heart for a second. I even heard it on Saturday at Full Gear but for some reason, while I was half-focused on the TV and half-focused on typing, I ended up full-focused on the TV. Getting shipped right back to childhood is fun, you guys!
For the first time ever, the TNT Championship open challenge is main-eventing Dynamite. Guevara has his ribs taped up from Saturday’s beating in the Minneapolis Street Fight. Lethal’s a wise old veteran, too. He takes advantage of the ribs early and often. The other thing helping Lethal is that Sammy doesn’t know how to slow down and he just keeps throwing his body around like he’s 100% healthy. You think Sammy would learn. Even after Lethal got his knees up on an insanely high shooting star press from Guevara, Sammy does this:
Big risk, no payoff for @sammyguevara. Can @TheLethalJay seize the opportunity? Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE NATIONWIDE on @tntdrama NOW! pic.twitter.com/srENJLgW4q
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) November 18, 2021
At least he acknowledges first that he’s crazy because…well, he is. Unfortunately for Jay Lethal, sometimes, crazy wins out. That’s the case here as Sammy wins with the GTH right between the eyes. What a great back and forth matchup between him and Jay Lethal! Ominously watching from the crowd is Tony Nese, still paying all that money for front row seats. At least the crowd got to see The Inner Circle, as they come out to celebrate with Sammy. Guevara shows sportsmanship still exists as he shakes Lethal’s hand and the entire Inner Circle embraces Jay as the show comes to a close.
Right before Dynamite ended, Tony spouts off that this was one of the best Dynamites ever. As I look back over my recap here, I have to agree. I didn’t find a single botch throughout the entire show. Well, except for Max Caster’s rap but the subsequent match far overshadowed the rap so it still ended up in a Pop. I don’t know, guys. What did you think about this week’s episode? Top to bottom, I felt it was a really good show. It was exactly what I wanted to see coming off a hot Full Gear and heading into the next quarter.
I hope you 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!
