The John Report: AEW Dynamite 07/01/26 (Quickie) Review
This is AEW Dynamite, featuring MJF defending the World Title against Mark Briscoe and more.
The AEW Forbidden Door PPV took place this past Sunday, and I thought it was a great show. Will Ospreay won the Men’s Owen Hart Cup and Mercedes Mone won the Women’s Owen Hart Cup to guarantee them a World Title match at All In London on August 30.
I’m writing this on Friday, July 3rd, and I didn’t even watch the show, so I’m just going to comment on the results. I’m Canadian, and we had Canada Day on July 1st, so I had a fun, relaxing day with family. The next day, I went to a friend’s pool and relaxed while watching the World Cup. I’ve been burned out from writing, so I didn’t watch Dynamite at all. I haven’t had a week off in over a year, so frankly, I think I could relax for two days. I don’t feel like watching it now either, but I watched YouTube clips. It’s nothing against AEW. I just need a break. I won’t have match ratings or any final scoreboard stuff.
This was AEW Dynamite episode #352 from the Viejas Arena in San Diego, California. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get to it.
It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means. Excalibur was on commentary with Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness.
They showed conversations from after Forbidden Door where Jon Moxley gave Will Ospreay a Death Riders patch because he’s earned it. Kenny Omega showed up to talk to Will about his big win, then MJF walked up for some trash talk, and that was obviously teasing future matches.
Match #1: AEW World Championship: MJF (c) defeated Mark Briscoe
They got about 20 minutes, and MJF got the win with the Heatseeker DDT. They set this up by mentioning Mark beat MJF earlier this year when MJF wasn’t the champ, so Mark and his team won at Forbidden Door to earn this title show. No surprise that MJF was going to win here. Briscoe is fine at a certain level, but they aren’t putting the AEW World Title on him in this situation.
After the match, MJF attacked Briscoe, so Kenny Omega made the save. That led to Omega wanting an AEW World Title match. MJF agreed to defend the title against Omega at Beach Break next week only if Omega agreed to the same stipulation that “Hangman” Adam Page agreed to. If Omega loses, then he can’t challenge for the AEW World Title ever again.
Will Ospreay confronted MJF about the stipulation for a match with Omega, and MJF bragged about being the champion. MJF said he’d see Will at Wembley.
Andrade was interviewed about turning on the Don Callis Family and MJF and wanting a shot at the AEW World Title. The Don Callis Family confronted Andrade, beat him up, and Brian Cage hit the Drill Claw.
Analysis: At least Andrade has the “How you know?” catchphrase to help him as a face.
Mercedes Mone bragged about winning the Women’s Owen Hart Cup for the second year in a row and getting a shot at the AEW Women’s World Title at All In London.
Analysis: Mercedes Mone has yet to win the AEW Women’s World Title. I think this is the year for her to do that.
Match #2: TNT Championship – “The Jet” Kevin Knight (c) defeated ROH World TV Champion “Blackheart” Lio Rush
It was an even matchup that got about 10 minutes, with Rush doing his crazy man gimmick to play mind games. Knight got the win with the Crash Landing, which is like a uranage slam.
Darby Allin showed up after the match to go after Knight, who seemed like he would give Allin a title match, but Don Callis said that’s not happening. Allin threatened Knight after that, saying, “You dug your grave.” Callis claimed Allin should be in a jail in a cell.
There was an interview with Tommaso Ciampa that led to Chris Jericho attacking him. They got into a brawl to set up their match next week on Dynamite.
Kenny Omega spoke with his friends, The Young Bucks, backstage about the stipulation that MJF presented earlier. Omega hadn’t made up his mind yet.
Match #3: Jon Moxley & Will Ospreay defeated The Swirl – Lee Johnson & Blake Christian (w/ Jay Lethal)
I looked up the match time for this, and it says it lasted about 9 minutes. I don’t know why Moxley & Ospreay needed that long to beat a team named The Swirl, which is a terrible name. Will won with the Hidden Blade.
The AEW World Tag Team Champions Adam Copeland & Christian Cage talked about their Forbidden Door win and unexpected assist from Jay White. Cope explained that White owed him a favor, so they are even now. Cage said he had a problem with White and still does.
Jay White and the Bang Bang Gang (The Gunns, Juice Robinson & Ace Austin) did a promo about The Dogs and White’s history with them, specifically David Finlay. There was no brawl or fight or anything like that. Just a promo to establish that White is back after missing more than a year. I didn’t know AEW wrestlers could do promos without a brawl afterward. Rare.
Match #4: Survival of the Fittest Match for the TBS Championship: Hikaru Shida defeated Kris Statlander, Maika, Harley Cameron, CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone and Queen Aminata
This went on for nearly 20 minutes and doesn’t seem that interesting. Truthfully, I forgot the TBS Title was vacant because Willow Nightingale gave it up, but here we are with an elimination match. It was Shida and Statlander as the final two women in the match. They are both former Women’s Champions and a former tag team. Shida applied an Ankle Lock, Kris went to the ropes (no rope breaks in this match), and Persephone hit Statlander with a title shot to the head. Shida applied the Ankle Lock while pulling on an arm and Kris passed out due to the belt shot to the head. Shida is the new TBS Champion.
Before Kenny Omega talked to the crowd, he spoke to Will Ospreay backstage, and Will told Kenny that he supported him.
Kenny Omega Answers MJF’s Challenge
Here’s part of what Kenny Omega said during his main event promo, thanks to AEW’s website for the promo.
“And all I have to do is put it all on the line against you, Max. If I fail, I will become just like Cody. I will become just like Hangman. I will become just another man who can never challenge for that belt again. And the question is, is the cost simply too high? And the answer is no. You want me to put it all on the line, Max? If I lose this time around, you’ll never see me in another title match again! And boy, wouldn’t that make you happy. Well, Max, there’s one possibility I don’t think you’ve even considered. And it’s that, yes, I am still that person that people call the Best Bout Machine. I’m still that person that people call The Cleaner. I’m still to some out there, the God of Professional Wrestling.”
“And I can’t lie, Max. To have one more chance to beat the brakes off you while I’m still healthy? Ooooh, it just gets the blood flowing, don’t it? So Max, am I going to accept your offer? THE ANSWER IS YES! So next week, Max, bring the BBB, bring yourself, and get ready to pass over what has rightfully been mine since the last time we wrestled, because this time I’m coming prepared, and I don’t know if you are for what I have in store for you. But until then, Max, I must bid adieu. So everybody say it with me if you know the words. Goodbye and goodnight. BANG!”
Since Omega officially accepted MJF’s AEW World Title match challenge for next week on Dynamite, MJF attacked Omega from behind. MJF tried to attack with the Dynamite Diamond Ring, but Omega was ready for it. They got into a brawl, and security broke it up. That’s how the show ended.
Analysis: I think Kenny Omega is going to beat MJF for the AEW World Title next week to set up Omega against Ospreay at All In London. They can probably do an Omega-MJF rematch at the Redemption PPV in Montreal later this month. If MJF beats Omega, I’m fine with that too because MJF against Ospreay would be awesome too. There’s no bad option there.
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I’m not going to do long final thoughts or give any score out of 10. I’ll try to get back to normal for next week’s show, which I may review live because it’s a strong card. It depends on the World Cup games too because I’ve been watching a lot of that. That’s all for now.
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Thanks for reading. Go Toronto Blue Jays. You can contact me using any of the methods below.
John Canton
Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @johnreport