The John Report: AEW Dynamite 05/04/22 Review
This week’s AEW Dynamite featured an ROH Women’s Championship match in the main event while Chris Jericho faced Santana, Jeff Hardy battled Bobby Fish and more.
This will be a condensed review just like I did with NXT. I’m posting the results with short comments because I’m dealing with COVID since Monday night and not feeling great. I would say the symptoms are mild for the most part, but there’s still a cough, mild fever and other things that have made me less interested in writing. I’m cutting back on writing until I feel normal. I watched it on the TV while laying down. I’m writing about it in about 20 minutes. I’m hoping to be back to normal by Friday or Saturday.
This was AEW Dynamite episode #136 at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means. Jim Ross was on commentary joined by fast-talking Excalibur and Tony Schiavone.
Jeff Hardy defeated Bobby Fish in an Owen Hart Cup Qualifying Match
I was hoping the tournament would feature some underused younger talent in AEW. Instead, they have two guys in their mid-40s here. I like both of them, but it wasn’t that interesting. Fish tried to ground Jeff with submission holds, but Jeff came back to win clean with a Swanton Bomb. It was around *** out of five.
The Young Bucks walked out to check on their Undisputed Elite buddy Fish, but it was really a way to tease Young Bucks vs. The Hardys. I assume AEW will do Young Bucks vs. Matt & Jeff Hardy at Double or Nothing on May 29.
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta) defeated The Butcher, The Blade & Angelico
It’s fun watching the Blackpool Combat Club beat people up, but as a match, it just feels so repetitive week after week when you see them against opponents who can’t even get one believable nearfall because you know BCC is going to win. They kept it around 8 minutes, which is fine. Bryan won with a triangle choke on Angelico. I’d go about **1/4 for it.
Wardlow defeated William Morrissey
MJF brought in Morrissey to face Wardlow and he lost to Wardlow in about five minutes. Morrissey is the former Big Cass in WWE and he works for Impact Wrestling. I believe he’s still dating Lexi Nair, who works for AEW. There was a funny “We Want Enzo/No We Don’t” chant during the match. Wardlow won with one Powerbomb. A quick match, so about *1/2 for this one.
Post match, Wardlow beat up about 15-20 “security” indy wrestlers who ran into him one by one, then he knocked them down and they bumped to the floor. It was funny by the end. Anyway, Wardlow wants a match with MJF and MJF agreed, but there will be stipulations as announced in a contract signing next week. Wardlow’s presentation is very popular with the crowd. The story is working. They love the guy.
The AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page was interviewed by Tony Schiavone, who made one comment, Page took the microphone and left. What an interview format. Anyway, Page was aggressive with his words saying he’s going to destroy and embarrass Punk. Page noted that Punk wasn’t there because he was probably filming another TV show. Page warned Punk that their match at Double or Nothing will be the fight of Punk’s life.
Chris Jericho defeated Santana
Jericho was nicknamed “The Wizard” this week since he threw a fireball at Eddie Kingston last week. I think Jericho’s had about 17 nicknames in his 30+ year career. I’m just guessing that number. They brawled on the floor before the match and then had a 10-minute match that Jericho won. It was a cheap win by Jericho with a low blow and Judas Effect elbow. It was fine for a TV match. Call it **3/4 for the match. Jericho’s group has had the advantage throughout this story, so look for Kingston, Santana & Ortiz to get some payback soon.
The Varsity Blonds called out House of Black with Brian Pillman Jr. using a quote from Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Why? Because John was at ringside and also the roommate of Brian’s dad, Brian Pillman Sr., who unfortunately passed away 25 years ago. Anyway, House of Black showed up and easily beat up Pillman and Griff Garrison. They wanted Julia Hart (the sad girl that has an eye patch) to hit Griff with a chair, but she didn’t do it. I don’t know why I’m supposed to care about any of this. I really don’t care. Anyway, The Death Triangle group consisting of Pac, Penta and Fenix made the save, so House of Black ran away. Poor Malakai Black was supposed to be used better in AEW. He is not being used better. I miss when they used Pac well too.
Rey Fenix defeated Dante Martin in an Owen Hart Cup Qualifying Match
This was easily the best match on the show. I’d go ***3/4 for a match that was only around 10 minutes. Tony Khan billed it as a “dream match” so the announcers were programmed to say it as well. I don’t know about a dream match. I would say something Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada is a dream match, but not this. They said Adam Cole vs. Ishii a few weeks ago was a dream match too. Calm down, AEW. Everything isn’t a dream match. Anyway, they got to do a lot of crazy shit because they’re incredible athletes. I loved the spot with Fenix hitting the Russian legsweep backflip for a two count. There was a spot near the finish where Rey turned a Powerbomb into a Cutter. I thought that should be the finish, but it only got a two count. They did a spot where it was Fenix giving Martin a Russian Legsweep off the top and they both landed on their feet (so Martin learned from the first time), which led to Martin hitting a Poison Rana. Martin jumped off the top, Fenix caught him and Fenix hit a sitout Falcon Arrow-style move for the win.
Thunder Rosa, the AEW Women’s Champion, did a babyface promo about all of her hard work that led her to be who she is today. Serena Deeb appeared, which led to a challenge for the Double or Nothing PPV. Rosa agreed, so the title is on the line there. I don’t see Rosa losing that match. It wasn’t that interesting in terms of a promo, but the match should be fine.
Mercedes Martinez defeated Deonna Purrazzo to become the Undisputed Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion
It did not feel like a big main event. The fans had a hard time caring because it’s just a match without a story that was built on AEW TV. I’m guessing most people had no idea why they had two champions in the first place. Anyway, Mercedes is under AEW contract while Deonna is under contract to Impact Wrestling, so if you couldn’t figure out who was going to win then you are bad at predicting wrestling matches. I’d go about **3/4 for the ten-minute match. Martinez got the win with a Dragon Sleeper and Deonna tapped out. I like women’s wrestling and putting them in the main event is cool, but it was not a big match in AEW’s world. It was probably one of the weaker AEW TV main events this year. They usually put on bigger matches on last. Not this week.
Three Stars of the Show
- Rey Fenix
- Dante Martin
- Chris Jericho
The Scoreboard
This Week: 7 out of 10
Last Week: 7.5
Final Thoughts
Here’s my condensed AEW Dynamite review. There were solid matches for the most part, but the card wasn’t as strong as the better AEW shows. The Fenix/Martin match was a lot of fun since they are great athletes that had some time to show off what they could do and the fans loved it. On the other hand, I thought the Martinez/Purrazzo main event was one of the weaker main events that AEW has done this year. It just didn’t feel like a big deal.
There also wasn’t a lot of talking. It was fine overall. I just don’t think it was some epic wrestling show or anything like that.
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Thanks for reading. Go Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Maple Leafs. You can contact me using any of the methods below.
John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport