The John Report: AEW Dynamite 07/20/22 Review
This week’s AEW Dynamite featured a Barbed Wire Everywhere match between Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho, plus a grudge match between Darby Allin and Brody King to start the show.
This was AEW Dynamite episode #146 at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia.
It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means. Excalibur, Taz and Tony Schiavone were on commentary. It’s Fyter Fest Week Two, which really doesn’t mean much to me, but it’s what they say.
They started with a Grudge Match as Brody King made his entrance with an 11-2 record. He’s from the House of Black group. Darby Allin was up next as Brody’s opponent with the crowd cheering for Allin as usual. Sting was with Allin, they touched fists and Sting went to the back. This has been building for a few weeks.
Darby Allin vs. Brody King
Allin kicked King out of the ring, then Allin tried a dive and King sent Allin into the barricade. Back in the ring, King with a big clothesline along with a hard chop to the chest. King with two senton splashes to the body. Allin tried to get some offense with a kick while on the turnbuckle, but when Allin tried a dive, King knocked him down easily. King grabbed Allin by the top of his jeans and spun him around. King tossed Allin into the barricade at ringside two times in a row. King with a hard chop while on the floor. Allin tried to fight back with punches, but King punched him and hit a hard chop to the chest again. King tossed Allin out of the ring again so they can go to a picture in picture break there.
(Commercial)
The match continued with King still in control until Allin used his belt to trip up King and pull him out of the ring. That was innovative. Allin ran the ropes leading to a cannonball suicide dive onto King on the floor. Allin with a corner splash, then he tried again and King caught him. King with a double axhandle to the back and strikes to the chest. King went for a cannonball, Allin pulled himself up and Allin hit a Code Red for a two count. Allin applied a submission sitting on King’s back and pulled back on the arms. Allin tried a sleeper, King held onto Allin and King drove Allin into the turnbuckle. That was a rough bump for Allin, but he’s used to it. Allin pulled back on King’s neck against the turnbuckle, then King got a hold of Allin on the apron and King choked out Allin, who fell to the floor. The idea was that King choked out Allin while on the apron and Allin fell to the floor. The referee counted out Allin even though he didn’t initiate a count most of the match, but they did it here so that Allin could get back in at the nine count. When Allin went back into the ring, King hit the Ganzo Bomb for the pinfall win after 13 minutes. It’s like a powerbomb into a piledriver. Ouch.
Winner by pinfall: Brody King
Analysis: ***3/4 A terrific match with King dominating much of it and King won it with a devastating move. Allin put up a good fight as usual, but he just couldn’t get any momentum. Allin is so great at taking a beating and making the opponent look strong. Obviously the size difference between the two guys helps that a lot. I liked how it was booked with King looking dominant.
Post match, King picked up Allin with a rear naked choke, then Sting made his entrance and King told Sting to bring it. Sting avoided a corner attack, he went for a Scorpion Death Drop, but the lights went out in the building. When the lights came back, Sting was staring at Malakai Black, who is King’s buddy. King applied the sleeper to Sting while Black split the DREADED MIST~! into Sting’s eyes. King choked Sting out.
Analysis: It looks like a future tag team match. Maybe Sting could lose? No. That’s probably not happening. Sting doesn’t lose.
The horns sounded off as Miro made his entrance wearing sunglasses and his wrestling gear. Miro stopped himself about halfway through the ramp. Black was laughing about it so maybe it’s Black thinking that Miro is scared of them.
Analysis: I don’t know if this was done to make Miro look apprehensive or waiting until he feels it’s the right time. The story was that black spit his mist in Miro’s face at Forbidden Door, so Miro wants revenge most likely.
(Commercial)
Ricky Starks, the FTW Champion, was interviewed and Cole Karter was there as his opponent. Starks made a reference to Cole getting fired by WWE NXT, then Cole stepped up to him and sounded confident.
Blackpool Combat Club – Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta vs. Best Friends – Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor
Moxley is the AEW Interim World Champion while Yuta is the ROH Pure Champion. William Regal joined commentary. Orange Cassidy was on commentary too, but he doesn’t speak much.
Moxley with a dragon screw leg whip on Trent. Yuta tagged in, so Trent tagged out and Excalibur reminded us of the story of Yuta was brought into AEW by the Best Friends, but he’s now in the Blackpool Combat Club. Chuck got a shoulder tackle knocking Yuta down. Yuta was trash talking Trent a bit, so Trent tagged in and they exchanged worked punches. Yuta with forearms to the head, then an enziguri kick and Trent hit a high angle backdrop suplex. Trent worked over Yuta with forearm to the head, Chuck into the ring illegally to calm Trent down, Yuta decked him with an elbow and Trent sent Yuta out of the ring. The referee was looking at Trent, so Chuck sent Yuta into the barricade two times. Moxley chased Chuck around the ring. They went to a picture in picture break.
(Commercial)
The action continued with Yuta knocking down Chuck, then Trent tagged in and Moxley got the hot tag. Moxley with elbows on Trent, Chuck in illegally and Moxley threw him out of the ring. Moxley tossed a table onto Chuck on the floor. Trent went for a springboard attack off the ropes, but Moxley countered with a Cutter. Moxley stomped on the face a few times, Yuta tagged in, Chuck back in illegally and Chuck hit a piledriver on Moxley. They are both illegally. Chuck with a piledriver on Yuta, who was legal and Trent hit a piledriver on Yuta for a two count. Yuta shoved Trent into Chuck, Yuta with a German Suplex, Trent came back with an elbow and Trent with a Crunchie slam. Moxley broke the pin attempt and Chuck took out Moxley so all four guys were down. Trent knocked Moxley off the apron to prevent a tag. Chuck tagged in and Yuta applied a guillotine, but Chuck suplexed Yuta into the turnbuckle. Meanwhile, Moxley was giving Trent a Figure Four Leglock on the floor. Yuta hooked the arms and twisted Chuck around for the seatbelt pin move for the win after 13 minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Blackpool Combat Club – Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta
Analysis: ***1/4 It was a solid match with Yuta getting the big win for his team using a technical move for the pin. I thought Moxley would be the one to get the win, but I guess they wanted to feature Yuta since he’s on the ROH PPV this weekend. I don’t think anybody watching this figured Chuck & Trent were going to win. There were a couple of decent nearfalls, but nothing that exciting.
They showed Daniel Garcia watching the match since he faces Yuta at ROH Death Before Dishonor on Sunday.
A video aired taking about the ROH World Championship match at ROH Death Before Dishonor with Jon Gresham defending against Claudio Castagnoli. I hope Claudio wins.
There was a giant shark named Chompy, the mascot for Shark Week.
Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland Championship Celebration
Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland made their way for an interview with Tony Schiavone since they won the AEW Tag Team Titles last week. The fans chanted for both guys, then the fans chanted “You Deserve It” for them. They showed hip-hop recording artist Kevin Gates at ringside, so Swerve gave him a shoutout.
Lee expressed his thanks to the fans. Lee said that with your assistance, they have ascended to the top of the tag team division. Lee said that they don’t look down, so if you want a shot at those titles, you better reach. They were about to have a toast, but there was an interruption.
Tony Nese and Smart Mark Sterling walked out to the ring. Sterling said that they got lucky with those championships and luck that Swerve didn’t turn on Lee. They had a petition to try to get Swerve out of AEW. Sterling wanted Kevin Gates to sign the petition and Gates didn’t want to do it. Sterling said that like Swerve Strickland, Gates is untrustworthy and his music sucks. Sterling his behind Nese, then Gates punched Nese and Swerve threw the cake into Sterling’s face. The crowd liked that.
Analysis: It was fine for a segment that was done to generate some laughs. I think the promos from Swerve and Lee could have been more interesting although Lee did do the usual thing thanking the fans. I just think they could have had Swerve say that people doubted this team, but they proved they could be champions and I think the fans would have liked that. The bit with Sterling/Nese was just done to have Gates throw a punch and the cake bit, so it was all done to make the babyface champions look impressive with Gates joining them.
(Commercial)
John Silver and Alex Reynolds were interviewed with The Blade & The Butcher with Tony Schiavone there conducting the interview. Silver and Reynolds had “BUTCH” shirts for The Butcher. Blade and Butcher easily beat them up, so Adam Page showed up with a save.
Analysis: That felt so random with the teams and then poor Page has nothing else going for him, so he was back to being with the Dark Order guys.
Luchasaurus & Christian Cage vs. Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison)
The crowd was dead for the Varsity Blonds for their entrance. Christian tagged out rather than start the match. Pillman charged in with Luchasaurus hitting a headbutt. The Blonds made some quick tags leading to multiple superkicks, but then Luchasaurus hit a double shoulder tackle and a double clothesline. Luchasaurus with a Chokeslam on Pillman. Luchasaurus also with a Chokeslam on Garrison onto Pillman’s back. Christian tagged in and pinned Pillman to win the match. It got about two minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Luchasaurus & Christian Cage
Analysis: 1/2* A dominant showing by Luchasaurus with Christian doing the glory hound thing by getting the pin even though he did nothing.
Post match, Christian Cage celebrated by making Luchasaurus put Christian on Luchasaurus’ shoulders just like Luchasaurus used to do with Jungle Boy. Speaking of JB, it was the return of Jungle Boy after about a month away. Jungle Boy had a steel chair in hand as he walked towards the ring where he faced off with Luchasaurus while Christian was in the ring. Luchasaurus stepped aside so Boy went into the ring and Christian escaped in the back part of the arena. Christian ran up the steps with Jungle Boy going after him. It looked like Jungle Boy got close, but then they cut away from it.
Analysis: They spent the last month with Luchasaurus working with Christian, now Jungle Boy is back and Luchasaurus just lets Jungle Boy go by him? I didn’t expect it to be that simple. Good to see Jungle Boy. I think he’s going to be a big singles star in the months ahead and obviously get the win over Christian Cage.
The Gunn Club trio of daddy Billy, Austin and Colten were interviewed by Lexy Nair. They ripped on The Acclaimed with Austin saying he wants to face Max Caster in a Rap Battle and the winner gets to pick the stipulations for when their teams have a match.
Jim Ross made his entrance to join the commentary team for the second half of the show.
FTW Championship: Ricky Starks (w/Powerhouse Hobbs) vs. Cole Karter
Cole was making his AEW debut. He was released by WWE’s NXT brand where he wrestled as “Troy ‘2 Dimes’ Donovan” as part of the Tony D’Angelo group. He was released due to a failed drug test. Cole with a dropkick followed by a cross body block off the middle rope and a clothesline sending Starks out of the ring. They went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
Cole was on offense with two clotheslines along with a kick to the face. Carter with a ripcord knee for two. Starks avoided a slam, he ducked a leapfrog and Cole hit a slam off the shoulders into a Cutter. Starks avoided a 450 Splash off the top and Starks hit a Spear for the pinfall win after six minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Ricky Starks
Analysis: *1/2 An easy win for Starks in a match where we only got to see about three minutes of full screen action. Starks barely got any offense in the match as Cole was given a lot, but Starks pinned him with a move that wasn’t even his finisher.
Ricky Starks did a post match promo saying he had a little bit more in the tank and he wanted to get another challenger out here. It was Danhausen, which drew a big pop from the crowd.
Danhausen said he heard about an open challenge, so he wants to accept that right now. Starks said he didn’t mean right now. Starks said next week on Dynamite (the fans booed so Starks told them to watch at home), he’ll face Danhausen for the FTW Championship.
Analysis: It would be funny to see Danhausen with a title. Starks has held the FTW Title for more than a year, but it’s not recognized by AEW.
The trio of Athena, Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale were interviewed by Tony Schiavone. They mentioned their six-woman tag was changed to a regular tag and agreed to “crush some baddies” together. That’s nice.
(Commercial)
Let’s Hear from FTR
The FTR duo of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler were interviewed by Tony Schiavone in the ring. The fans cheered for FTR, who will defend their ROH Tag Team Titles against The Briscoe Brothers at Death Before Dishonor in a 2/3 Falls Match. They are also the IWGP and AAA Tag Team Titles.
Wheeler thanked the fans for the cheers while saying they’ll never get used to that kind of reaction. Wheeler said that 2022 has been a pretty decent year for them. Wheeler noted that the first time ever against The Briscoes was when they went to war and now they do it again on Saturday. Wheeler said that The Briscoes are not going to take any of these titles from FTR.
Dax Harwood said that there was this little five year old girl back home. Harwood said that this girl heard an irregular heartbeat. They did more tests, then found out that she had a hole in the bottom of her heart. The doctor told the parents that if she fought hard the hole would close up on his own, but if not they would have to do this open heart surgery, which is a big risk for a five year old. Harwood said fast forward three years later and this time, when the doctor looks and he sees that the hole is completely closed. The fans cheered. Harwood said she worked her ass off, she fought her ass off to make sure she is healthy and that eight-year-old girl is Dax’s daughter. Big cheers from the crowd. Harwood said if that girl will fight for something that is not promised for her, then daddy is going to fight hard and bring home a legacy she can be proud of. Lots of “FTR” chants. Harwood said Saturday night, Death Before Dishonor, he said that he’ll fight like an 8-year-old girl and they’re going to be at their ass. “Top guys out.” The champions hugged in the ring.
Analysis: It was good promo work by the FTR boys. They have been the number one ranked tag team in AEW for like four months, yet they don’t get a title shot. That wasn’t addressed, though. This was about promoting the ROH PPV and they did a fine job of that without any sort of angle with The Briscoes. The last match they had was amazing, though, so I think they will do everything to try to top it. I loved that Dax story about his daughter fighting hard and overcoming. That’s inspiring for us all.
Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh were interviewed by Lexi Nair, who mentioned Christopher Daniels and Dutt said he didn’t care about him. Lethal ripped on Samoa Joe for not showing up to work. Daniels spoke up to Joe saying he’ll be ready at Death Before Dishonor and Daniels challenged Lethal to a match on Rampage. Lethal accepted it.
The team of TBS Champion Jade Cargill and Kiera Hogan were with Stokely Hathaway along with rap legend Jermaine Dupri. Hathaway mentioned no Leyla Gray for his team since she’s not cleared, so it’s not a six-man tag, it’s a regular tag. Jade said she’ll show us why she is always that bitch. Athena and Willow Nightingale were up next as the opponents.
Athena & Willow Nightingale vs. Jade Cargill & Kiera Hogan
Jade is 34-0 going into this match. Jade tagged out rather than start with Athena. Hogan with a hair whip takedown, Athena popped up and punched Hogan to knock her down. Hogan with a back heel trip, then she missed a dropkick and Willow hit a running cross body block into a pin for two. Willow suplexed Athena onto Hogan for a two count. Jade with a knee to the back that was a cheap shot, Athena tossed Hogan to the floor and Willow followed up with a dive off the apron leading to a double neckbreaker on the floor. Athena hit a cross body block on the three women on the floor.
(Commercial)
The faces were still in control as Willow hit two clotheslines on Hogan and Willow hit a spinebuster. Jade sent Willow out of the ring. Athena faced off with Jade, they exchanged strikes and each woman avoided kicks. Jade kicked Athena, who had a boot up. Athena jumped off the top, Jade caught her and hit a fallaway slam. When Jade went for a lifting move, Athena hit a double knee stomp onto Jade’s upper body. Hathaway got in Athena’s face, so Jade capitalized with a kick that sent Athena into the steps. Hogan with a jawbreaker. Cargill got the tag, Willow got a rollup for two and Jade hit spinning slam. Jade hit the Jaded slam on Willow for the pinfall win. It got about seven minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Jade Cargill & Kiera Hogan
Analysis: ** Easy win for Cargill’s team as usual for her. When they changed it from the six-woman tag to a regular tag and kept Willow in the match, it was obvious that they only did that to have Willow take the pin and that’s what happened. Athena really doesn’t have any kind of momentum in AEW. She’s there, but she isn’t doing much.
Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm were interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Rosa talked about how she’s going to get the win next week. Britt Baker walked into the screen with Jamie Hayter. Britt said that they will be on Rampage and that was it. Alrighty then.
There was a rundown of things coming up with fast-talking Excalibur going through it.
This Friday on Rampage:
* The Butcher and The Blade vs. “Hangman” Adam Page & John Silver
* Lee Moriarty vs. Dante Martin
* Dr. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter in action.
* Max Caster faces Austin Gunn in a Rap Battle.
* Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels.
Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor PPV on Saturday, July 23:
* ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia.
* ROH Women’s Championship: Mercedes Martinez vs. Serena Deeb
* ROH World Tag Team Championships 2/3 Falls Match: FTR vs. The Briscoes. That should be the main event.
* Allysin Kay vs. Willow Nightingale
* ROH TV Championship: Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal.
* ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships: The Righteous vs. Dalton Castle & The Boys.
They didn’t mention the ROH World Title match with Jonathan Gresham defending that title against Claudio Castagnoli. I hope Claudio wins.
Next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite:
* AEW Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita.
* FTW Championship: Ricky Starks vs. Danhausen.
The ringside area was getting set up for the main event up next.
(Commercial)
The show returned with Justin Roberts saying it was time for the main event and introduced the Jericho Appreciation Society to put them in a shark cage above the ring. It was a big cage that fit all four men easily while they also plugged Shark Week. Of course. Ruby Soho was holding onto the device to control the cage, which basically meant she got to lift the cage while the four guys were in it.
The “Wizard” Chris Jericho was up next with a barbed wire baseball bat while dressed as The Painmaker version of Jericho. The fans sang along with the “Judas” song as usual. Jericho had some face paint since he’s the Painmaker for this match. Eddie Kingston got a huge ovation as he walked out with a t-shirt and went right into the ring.
No Disqualification Barbed Wire Everywhere Death Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Jericho
Kingston attacked Jericho with a barbed wire microphone and attacked Jericho, so Jericho was bleeding already. That was quick. They left the ring, Jericho got some offense and Kingston sent Jericho face first into the table that was on the floor. They went back into the ring with Kingston tossing Jericho into the barbed wire that was against the ropes. Kingston delivered Jericho with two barbed wire chair shots to the back. Jericho came back with punches, he set up Kingston on the top rope and Jericho gave Kingston a hurricanrana off the top with Kingston landing on the barbed wire. That’s rough. Jericho was wrestling in a tank top while Kingston did not have his upper body covered, which is probably a bad move. It led to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
They exchanged punches, Kingston sent Jericho back first into the barbed wire by the ropes and Kingston suplexed Jericho onto the ropes where there was barbed wire on the ropes. Kingston was bleeding heavily on his back after some bumps that he took. They were fighting on the ring apron with Kingston delivering a suplex to Jericho through the barbed wire table that was on the floor! Ouch. The fans were chanting “holy shit” for that. Tay Conti ran down to ringside to fight Ruby Soho, so Anna Jay showed up to try to break it up. Instead of attacking Tay, Jay punched Ruby and sent Ruby into the ring post. That means Jay is friends with Tay again with Jay as a heel now. Jay got control of the shark cage and then she lowered the shark cage to the floor. Tay Conti got the key and tried to open the door to free Garcia, Hager, Parker and Menard, but she couldn’t open the door. This was comical. The guys ended up making their way out through the bars of the cage. The JAS went into the ring to help Jericho, but Kingston’s friends like Ortiz, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta made the save. Kingston gave Jericho an Exploder Suplex into a table in the corner leading to a two count. Jericho hit a Codebreaker for two. Jericho with a few barbed wire chair shots. Jericho tried a Lionsault for some reason, Kingston threw a chair at Jericho to stop it and Kingston hit a spinning back fist for just a two count. Kingston grabbed a piece of barbed wire from under the ring, then he applied the Stretch Plum submission and Sammy Guevara made his way into the ring to superkick Kingston. Sammy shoved Kingston into the barbed wire Judas Effect elbow by Jericho (he had barbed wire wrapped around his arm) for the pinfall win after 14 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho
Analysis: *** This is tough to rate. On the one hand, I appreciate the effort of both guys. On the other hand, instead of booking a feud-ending win for the babyface Kingston, it became a chaotic mess with all of the interference. A vicious match with the heel Jericho finding a way to get the win. I don’t think it was a great match because they were limited in terms of what they could do, but I give Eddie and Chris a lot of respect for having that kind of match because it’s not easy. It wasn’t the result I expected. I think the interference really hurt the match. It was funny that Tay couldn’t even open the cage and the guys still got out of it. That made me laugh more than it made me feel bad for Eddie that Jericho’s friends were free. Instead of Sammy helping Jericho win, save that for the post match attack after Eddie gets the win. They are now going to need to do ANOTHER match with Eddie finally getting the win. It’s gone on long enough. This should have been it with Eddie winning the match.
Jericho and Sammy wanted to do more, but Kingston overpowered them. Kingston barely sold the finisher at all since he easily tossed Sammy out of the ring. Kingston tossed Jericho off the apron onto a barbed wire board on the floor. That was the end of the show.
Analysis: They had Kingston take a Judas Effect elbow with barbed wire and he didn’t even sell it just so they can do the finishing spot before the show ended. It was a freakin’ finishing move with barbed wire and it’s not even sold. That’s because AEW insists on post match attacks all the time. They didn’t time it that well and it was so rushed.
Three Stars of the Show
- Brody King
- Darby Allin
- Eddie Kingston/Chris Jericho
The Scoreboard
This Week: 7.25 out of 10
Last Week: 8
Final Thoughts
A pretty good show overall. I don’t know if I would call it a great episode because some of it was boring at times. The matches that started the show off were fun because I thought King/Allin was the match of the night and the tag with Moxley/Yut getting the win was perfectly fine.
The main event of Jericho vs. Kingston was violent and bloody but I didn’t love the cheap finish for it. I get that it’s a way to keep the story going. I just feel like it’s been long enough. Kudos to both guys for cutting up their bodies to entertain us.
I liked a lot of Dynamite, but I don’t think it was one of their stronger episodes this year.
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Thanks for reading. Go Toronto Blue Jays. You can contact me using any of the methods below.
John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport