IT’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
Heya folks! I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we last met. How time flies when you’re living in the past! Lest you forget, last week, Dax and Cash put on an absolute wrestling clinic in a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament. Also, Sammy Guevara continued cashing in on his bump card and Scorpio Sky was more than willing to accommodate, as he was able to unhook the titles from high above the ladder and now we have a new TNT Champion! Say, does anyone know what happened to Hardcore Hak?
BOTCH: Oweno! Not Him
To kick off Dynamite tonight, we get Adam Cole (baybay!) coming out to do commentary. He is followed by Jeff Hardy, complete with Matt Hardy, and then Bobby Fish, led to the ring by Kyle O’Reilly. Okay, so no CM Punk in our leadoff spot. I’m not sure how I feel about this but hey, when you can get two world-renowned tag team wrestlers to go one-on-one instead of CM Punk, you take it, I guess?
Bobby and Jeff get off to a hot start with Fish gaining the upperhand early. They go back and forth for quite awhile and Bobby damn near puts Jeff away with an Avalanche Falcon Arrow. Jeff kicks out at two, however. A couple of minutes later, with Cole begging Bobby to get up, Jeff hits the ol’ Swanton Bomb and he qualifies for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament! The Young Bucks come out to confront the Hardys then peel off to check on Bobby. Quite the tease there! Also, the field for this dance is looking quite stacked (regardless of the Jeff Hardy addition) and should be quite fun, my friends!
POP: Bludgeon Brothers
Ya know, I didn’t think I was going to like Wheeler Yuta being included in the Blackpool Combat Club. I can admit when I am wrong; however. He seems to fit in quite well between Daniel Bryanson and Jon Moxley. I also love that William Regal gets sick enjoyment out of his boys getting beat. He was downright giddy when The Butcher jumped Moxley to start the match. Butcher is such a good bad guy. I would love to see them give him a singles run, maybe for the big belt; though, I doubt I’ll ever see that happen. At least Angelico got to attempt his fun, unorthodox offense against the Blackpool Combat Club.
At one point, Butch just brushes off a Yuta dropkick like it’s a mosquito. When Moxley gets the hot tag from Wheeler, he absolutely demolishes The Blade, beating him from pillar to (SteelRing)post. Angelico wanted a little bit of the smoke but when Mox and Danielson gave it to him, it was the beginning of the end. The American Dragon lifts him up by his wrists and I think we all know the triple stomp/beating combo was coming. I love it. Angelico taps shortly thereafter and it’s another notch in the W column for your favorite local(?) combat club!
BOTCH: Big W Gets a Big L
Last week, MJF teased who the mystery opponent was, saying he was mean, tall, angry, and “you can’t teach that.” So no surprise that the mystery opponent for Wardy was Big Dub William Morrissey. When he and Wardlow get face to face though, you can see that Wardlow isn’t as much of a monster as they’ve led us to believe. Morrissey absolutely towers over him.
Wardlow is escorted to the ring in his now-customary handcuffs. We spend the next five or six minutes watching Morrissey just beating the hell out of Wardlow. He beat him outside the ring, inside the ring, and even gave him a Bossman Slam for good measure….well, almost good measure. It produced a two-count. After Wardlow gets the momentum back with a beautiful moonsault, he hits the powerbomb on Morrissey and that’s all she wrote!
I still think this storyline has drawn out too long, but I will give Morrissey a ton of credit here. He didn’t shit the bed. He looked good (although with a mostly stale offense) and he shut the crowd up when they were chanting, “We want Enzo, No we don’t!” After the match, Wardlow attacks security and finally gets MJF to accept a match with him (once the contract is signed next week in Long Island). Surely, it’ll be on the up and up.
POP: Outer Circle
The Inner Circle has been collapsed for some time. Yet, we are still throwing Chris Jericho and his Appreciation Society against its former members. This of course, is coming on the heels of Jericho hitting Eddie Kingston in the face with a fireball last week. Santana wastes no time, hitting a Tope’ Suicida as Jericho and his goons came down to the ring. Before the first commercial, we’d already seen Jericho’s cronies get involved, Jericho hit a springboard dropkick, and Santana flip off the camera Jericho was holding while yelling, “Fuck you!” I think there’s bad blood, you guys.
The match almost ends when Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho. But after Santana drags himself to the rope, these two get into a Flair-style chopfest. Eventually, their chests start hurting and Santana hits a rolling stunner for a two count. Daddy Magic tries to get involved but Ortiz takes him out, allowing Jericho to sneak in a low blow. One Judas Effect later and this match is OVER. Pride & Powerful need to find some help or we’re all going to witness them getting beat up 5-on-2 for months. Ugh.
POP: Flying into My Hart
This match is exactly what I love about AEW. Two dudes that are super exciting to watch going head-to-head to get into the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tourney. Obviously, this match did not disappoint. With these two having very similar offensive profiles, there is a lot of opportunity to showcase each other’s skills. And boy did they. I mean, look at the ref’s expression on this cross body to the outside.
Both of these guys gave it everything they had. But even after this sick poisonrana, Dante Martin was unable to put away Fenix. He couldn’t capitalize with the Nose Dive and eventually Rey would hit the Black Fire Driver to get the victory! Rey Fenix moves into the bracket for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament and it is announced that he will be facing Kyle O’Reilly in the first round!
BOTCH: Unfortunate
I love that two women are main eventing AEW Dynamite. Also, I love that it’s two women we don’t normally see, in Deonna Purrazzo and Mercedes Martinez. I love that it’s for a title. I love that it’s to unify two titles together. For some reason, I just couldn’t get behind it. Maybe it’s the fact that the crowd isn’t that much into it or something, but I was kind of meh about the whole thing. If this was the AEW Women’s title, would I be more inclined to love it? I don’t know but it’s definitely possible.
You’ve got Mercedes Martinez out here trying to clothesline Purrazzo’s head off her freakin’ neck. My favorite part was Deonna biting Mercedes in an attempt to fend off the Dragon Sleeper. Mercedes is tough though, y’all. She locks it in anyway and Deonna taps pretty quickly. Martinez is your Undisputed Ring of Honor Women’s Champion! I’ve gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting her to win this. It actually added to the match for me but man, I’m sad with how down I was overall with it.
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!
