Reviews

The John Report: AEW Dynamite 12/04/19 Review

By John Canton • Published 5th December 2019
TJR Wrestling

The month of December is here and that means there are just three more episodes of AEW Dynamite this year. We have this show, the next two weeks, then it’s Christmas on a Wednesday and they’re not doing a show that night for good reason. Let’s hope AEW can end the year on a strong note in this final month. Here’s my AEW Dynamite TV review archive. I’m watching on TSN2 in Canada, so there might be different commercial breaks or split-screen moments. Just letting you know because I had some comments about that in the past.

Live from Champaign, Illinois, this is episode #10 of AEW Dynamite. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Please visit TJRWrestling.net daily for our regular updates on the wrestling business featuring WWE, AEW and other wrestling news coverage along with reviews about wrestling’s past and present. Thanks to Melo Man for the banner up top.

The AEW Dynamite opening video aired to begin the show. The pyro went off in the arena and the crowd in Champaign was making a lot of noise sounding like they were ready to go. It’s right to a match to begin the show. The announce team is Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur as usual.

The Young Bucks duo of Matt and Nick Jackson entered to a big pop. They’re 7-5 Overall in AEW and still ranked #2 among AEW tag teams. Dustin Rhodes entered as their partner and he’s still got a cast on his left forearm. They have the ramp all the way to the ring for this week’s show. Their opponents were the Inner Circle trio of Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz with Santana/Ortiz as the #1 ranked tag team that has a 4-1 record. At least that makes sense.

Dustin Rhodes and The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) vs. Santana, Ortiz and Sammy Guevara

Rhodes ran over Guevara with a shoulder tackle followed by an armdrag. Nick launched Matt into the air for a dropkick on Guevara. Santana and Ortiz went into the ring, Dustin hit a clothesline on Guevara and the Young Bucks hit superkicks to send Santana/Ortiz out of the ring. Three superkicks for Guevara by the babyface team. Matt went up top with a cross body block to take out the heels on the floor. Rhodes hit a dive off the apron on two guys and Nick jumped off the top onto Ortiz with a corkscrew crossbody block. That was a good sequence. Matt did his Northern Lights Suplex routine on Sammy, then he did it to Santana too, but when Ortiz got there, Matt couldn’t do more. Buckle Bomb by the heels sent Matt into the turnbuckle and Santana with a cannonball senton on Matt against the turnbuckle. Guevara off the top with a senton bomb on Matt for a two count. Santana held up Matt, Ortiz in to hold Matt, Guevara in to hold Matt, who broke free and Matt hit a superkick on Guevara. Rhodes tagged back in with two clotheslines on Santana, a punch to the face and a powerslam. Dustin with a powerslam for Ortiz, then Rhodes teased that he needed to catch his breath and hit a powerslam on Ortiz too. Rhodes went up top, the three heels stood there in place and Rhodes hit them with a cross body block. Dustin hit a Canadian Destroyer on Santana for two with Ortiz breaking up the pin. Rhodes set up Santana against the turnbuckle, Ortiz brought the sock full of baseballs, the referee never saw it and Guevara went up top with a 630 Splash for two with Dustin kicking out. The fans chanted “bullshit” for the cheap shot with the sock. That seemed like a good spot for the finish, but the match kept going. Nick tagged in with a double stomp to Guevara, kick to the face and a bulldog. Matt tagged in with a Spear on Guevara, Nick kicked Santana down and the Bucks hit a double team moonsault/splash combo for two with Ortiz breaking up the pin. Nick sent Ortiz out of the ring followed by a superkick. Santana with a dive onto Nick on the floor and Guevara with a dive onto Matt on the floor. The fans chanted “AEW” for this. Guevara with a diving knee drop off the top into a slam for a two count with Dustin making the save. Guevara took out his cell phone, he filmed himself on the top rope, he jumped off and ate a double superkick by the Young Bucks. Dustin grabbed the phone, Ortiz distracted the referee leading to another double superkick and an Unnatural Kick (Shattered Dreams). Nick up top and he jumped onto Dustin and Matt who were holding two guys leading to a splash onto Guevara. Matt covered Guevara to win for the team after 11 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Dustin Rhodes and The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)

Analysis: ***1/2 It was a fast-paced match as you would expect with most of the guys in this match. The last few minutes chaotic and they came up with a very creative finishing spot. Dustin continues to impress as one of the oldest guys in the company. Guevara had some good moments, but then he was made to look like a moron by going for the phone to film himself and then it cost him the match. Guevara was standing on the top rope looking at the phone, the Bucks were both standing up by this point, then Guevara jumps off like an idiot and eats a double superkick. It was a really lame spot. It’s hard to take a guy seriously when he does stupid shit like that. The result makes sense since The Young Bucks needed a meaningful win like that.

The announcers were shown on-screen plugging what matches are still to come in the show. The main event is Jon Moxley facing Joey Janela.

Trent made his entrance with his Best Friends buddies Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy. They have officially dropped the “Beretta” name from Trent, so it’s just the simple Trent name. Rey Fenix entered alone without his brother Pentagon. JR put over Fenix for being one of the best in AEW, which I would agree with. Trent already has a win over Pentagon in singles action.

Trent (w/Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy) vs. Rey Fenix

Fenix with a dropkick, then a rollup and Trent avoided a hook kick. When Trent went to the turnbuckle, Fenix kicked him down and hit a dropkick to the back.

(Commercial – It was split screen commercial time with Fenix getting a dropkick. Fenix teased a ropewalk armbar, but then he just punched Trent in the face instead. Fenix worked over Trent with chops to the chest. Trent came back with a forearm that knocked Fenix out of the ring, but then Fenix connected with a running dropkick against the ropes. Fenix with a splash for a two count.)

Fenix went up top, he jumped off with a twisting move and Trent countered with a dropkick. Trent with a suplex that sent Fenix across the ring into the ropes. Fenix with a kick to the gut of Trent and sent him into the barricade, but Trent came back with a Spear on the floor. Trent with a running elbow attack against the turnbuckle followed by a Tornado DDT out of the corner for two. Fenix with a monkey flip, Trent went for a move and Fenix hit a Powerbomb for two. Fenix with a forearm, then he walked across the ropes with a kick, but Trent came back with a clothesline for two as fans chanted “this is awesome” for them. Fenix and Trent exchanged chops while on the apron, Fenix with a kick to the chest and Fenix jumped off the top with a double foot stomp to the back that sent Trent into the ring apron followed by a fall to the floor. That was impressive. Fenix went up top, he jumped off and Trent got the knees up to block a splash attempt. Trent with a running knee to the face followed by a stuck piledriver for a two count. They were at the ten-minute mark. Trent ran the ropes, Fenix with a Cutter, a spin kick off the ropes and a spinning Muscle Buster finished it for Fenix after about 11 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Rey Fenix

Analysis: ***1/4 That was pretty good action where they made the most of the time given and built up to the finish well. That Cutter followed by the spinning Muscle Buster is a believable combo that can be used to finish a match. When people say that Fenix is one of the best wrestlers in the world, I’m not going to argue that. He’s an incredible athlete that makes everything look easy and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a bad match.

They replayed the key spots in the match while noting that Fenix is 2-0 in singles action in AEW.

(Commercial – Trent and Fenix were about to shake hands, but then they shoved eachother, so Trent decked him with a forearm. Trent followed up with a clothesline. Fenix left. Cody was shown walking backstage because he’s being interviewed up next)

Cody’s entrance was shown with the crowd cheering for him as Cody rose up from below the stage. Cody was in a suit for an interview.

Let’s Hear from Cody

Cody was interviewed in the ring by Tony Schiavone, who sucked up to the crowd saying they were there in Illinois. Cody still had a scar above his right eye from last month’s Full Gear PPV. Cody said that the scar above his eye is a reminder of his failure to win the AEW World Title and based on his own stipulation, he cannot challenge for it again. Cody said that last week there was another ass kicking from another unknown entity, yet when he reaches out for somebody to pull him up, nobody is there. Cody said his brother is in some blood feud with the Young Bucks against Santana/Ortiz, his wife is cutting off the hair of women in the women’s division and his best friend MJF kicked him in the balls. Cody said he was familiar with The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny while noting he has seen them wrestling on other indy shows. Cody said he knows pomp and circumstance because you’ve seen his entrance while adding that they can have a match with him where they can pick his partner.

Cody noted that MJF said that he will never wrestle him. Cody said that at Full Gear, MJF threw in the towel that was not his decision to make and it was only Cody’s decision. Cody said that he picked MJF while noting that people may think he’s too small, he has a fake scarf, he botched the Cross Rhodes (he said they were botching it on two channels, so that’s a shot at NXT) and he’s like a fake NWO version of Chris Jericho. Cody said what’s it going to take for MJF to have a match with him. Cody said he’ll offer his truck to him, he’ll offer his expensive watch and even his Louboutin shoes. Cody mentioned some people like cold, hard cash and Justin Roberts brought in a briefcase. Cody revealed a briefcase of money noting that it was over $50,000 in real cash. Cody told Justin to give $100 to a young guy in the crowd and said $50,000 is MJF’s if he has the match. Cody said that he still thinks MJF is the future. Cody said he’s going to educate him, he’s going to harm him, he’s going to lacerate him and all he has to do is name his price. Cody said we’re waiting, so let’s do this. There was no response to the promo as Cody left in his socks with fans chanting “Cody” for him.

Analysis: Great promo from Cody as usual. Cody has delivered some of the best promos in the company. It’s weird that there was no response from MJF at least with a promo, but clearly they are taking their time. Since we don’t even know when the next PPV is, they are in no rush to set up matches for it. I liked some of the lines from Cody showing how interested he is in getting his hands on MJF. The fans are strongly behind Cody as one of the top faces in the company.

There was a response from MJF on Twitter. I would have put this on TV. One of AEW’s problems is they assume everybody has social media and sees everything. Put the important stuff like this promo on your TV show.

Joey Janela was interviewed by Alex Marvez in the backstage area. Janela said he wants to name for himself and he feels he was put on a backburner. Janela called out Jon Moxley saying they went through hell in June at Fyter Fest, but this time the lights were on and this time you’ll actually have to kill Janela. That’s when Moxley showed up, looked at the camera, looked back at Marvez and said, “kids” referring to Janela. Moxley left.

Analysis: I like that they did a backstage interview to hype up the main event. It was less than one minute, but it helps the show when you get to hear from one of the guys in the main event.

(Commercial)

There was a video about the Dark Order stable where they showed some guy typing a message on a computer. He was met by Dark Order members, the guy said his motive to join the Dark Order was revenge and they gave him a mask. A bearded fat guy said he wanted to join the Dark Order because he just wanted friends, but then they kicked him and he was “attacked” by others.

Analysis: These videos continue to be weird, but at least we are learning more about The Dark Order as a cult-like group.

Nyla Rose made her entrance. They showed a clip of her attacking Shanna last week and put her through a table, so that started a rivalry between them.

Nyla Rose vs. Leva Bates (w/Peter Avalon)

Rose with a boot to the face. Rose set up Bates on the top rope and hit a jumping knee to the side of the head. Rose went for her finish, but Avalon went into the ring to tell Nyla to “shush” and Rose grabbed his finger. Bates tried to attack with a book, Rose no-sold it, Rose got Avalon and Rose hit a double Chokeslam. Rose hit a sitout Beast Bomb (powerbomb) for the pinfall win after two minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Nyla Rose

Analysis: 1/2* A squash win to put over Rose in dominant fashion.

Post match, Rose hit another Beast Bomb on Bates. Shanna ran to the ring with a cross body block off the top. Shanna charged and Rose hit a Powerslam to put Shanna down.

Analysis: Rose looked dominant during the match and after it was over.

(Commercial – Rose grabbed a table from under the ring. She was going to put Shanna through it, but the referee stopped her. Rose picked up the referee Rick Knox and put him through the table with a Powerbomb. Rose gave Shanna Powerbomb onto the referee. Britt Baker was shown watching in the crowd even though she’s a wrestler for the company, yet she’s in the crowd. There were other referees that showed up to clear the ring quickly as everybody left.)

Analysis: It put over Rose in a big way and that’s the whole point. Rose is definitely more of a powerful heel, but it’s not like AEW’s women’s division has a lot of well-defined faces and heels right now.

Analysis: When Baker was shown in the crowd, they had Excalibur scream about how that is Adam Cole’s girlfriend because that’s what WWE did at WarGames a few weeks ago when they showed Baker reacting in the crowd. Nice touch by AEW to remake the scene. A little cheesy too, but no harm done.

Chris Jericho made his entrance at the top of hour two with the AEW World Title on his shoulder and the “Big Hurt” Jake Hager was by his side. Jericho also had some champagne with him because he’s selling that “A Little Bit of the Bubbly” champagne these days. JR asked if there is anybody in pro wrestling right now and Tony said nobody is.

Let’s Hear from Chris Jericho

Jericho said “Le Champion” is in Champaign, the fans cheered and Jericho commented that nobody from Champaign has ever been as successful as him. AEW President Tony Khan is from there, so fans chanted “Tony Khan” at him and Jericho asked who is Tony? Jericho claimed that 12,000 bottles of the champagne sold in one week and you can get yours at Littlebitofthebubbly.com just in time for the holidays. Jericho said that he was told he was contractually obligated to have one more match on December 18. Jericho said because he is the champion, he can choose whoever he wants to face. Hager gave Jericho a clipboard as Jericho said he had a list, the fans cheered and Jericho said get out of 2016. That’s a reference to the “List of Jericho” gimmick that Chris did in WWE three years ago.

Jericho presented the “The Lexicon of Le Champion” where he mentioned people he didn’t want to wrestle. Jericho said a lot of names quickly, so it was hard to get them all. He said Cody, Jon Moxley, Young Bucks, Papa Buck, 2 Cold Scorpio, he kept saying Moxley, Kenny Chesney, Kenny from South Park, the chubby guy with popcorn in the fifth row, the ugly guy with glasses, Allen Jones (that’s AJ Styles name), Moxley, Marty and he was interrupted by some music.

Analysis: Jericho mentioning Moxley many times shows they are clearly building to that especially with how last week’s show ended. Since we don’t know when the next PPV is, they have plenty of time to get there.

The Jurassic Express trio of Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt made their entrance. They got into the ring with Jericho.

Jericho said that next on the list are dinosaurs and little children. Luchasaurus pointed out that he has a Master’s Degree in Medieval History, so he mentioned some names from history. Luchasaurus claimed that dinosaurs have been marginalized for 65 million years and he told Jericho that Marko is more man than Jericho will ever be. Jericho said that Marko is too small for any age, so Jericho said if it’s not Luchasaurus or Marko, you can’t mean Jungle Boy? The fans chanted “Jungle Boy” for the youngster. Jericho asked Jungle Boy if he had what it takes to win a match. Jericho noted that Jungle Boy hasn’t won a match and Jericho called him a little shit I think (muted here in Canada). Jericho said he didn’t think Jungle Boy could last ten minutes with him.

Jungle Boy took the microphone from Jericho and said he knew he could last ten minutes with him and he’s going to kick his ass. Boy slapped Jericho, so that led to a fight. Boy with a dropkick on Jericho, Luchasaurus punched Hager and Jericho left with Hager. Jericho threw a tantrum at ringside by tossing items into the ring. Jericho told Jungle Boy we’ll see what happens on December 18, so that’s the match at Dynamite in two weeks. Jericho left with Hager up the ramp.

Analysis: It was a simple angle to set up a match on December 18. It was not specified if it will be a World Title match. Jericho was very entertaining as usual during his promo. I have a minor gripe with Jericho’s promos because sometimes they are too comedic when they need to be more serious. What Jericho said about Jungle Boy was true because Boy hasn’t won a match, yet now they are putting him in a match with Jericho. They should probably have a Jungle Boy win a singles match on next week’s Dynamite to build momentum for the following week’s match with Jericho. I assume they will have Jungle Boy come close to winning, but then Jericho will win.

Kris Statlander made her entrance and they called her an alien, so I guess that’s her gimmick. I don’t know. She is a good athlete that impressed me last week. The alien thing is dumb even for pro wrestling. Hikaru Shida was the opponent and she’s the #1 ranked woman in AEW with a record of 4-2. Shida has been impressive so far.

They announced that Nyla Rose was suspended due to attacking the referee earlier.

Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander

Statlander did several cartwheels, drop toe hold by Shida and a dropkick. They went to split screen action about one minute into this.

(Commercial – Statlander knocked Shida off the apron, she missed a dive and Shida kicked her. Shida got a chair, set it up on the floor in a seated position and jumped off the chair for a knee attack, but Statlander managed to slam Shida back first into the barricade. Statlander with a leg drop followed by a flipping splash for two. Statlander whipped Shida into the turnbuckle, then a running knee followed and a roll around the ring led to a two count for Statlander.)

They battled on the apron, Shida with a kick to the side of the head and a running knee off the apron to the floor. Shida with a missile dropkick on Statlander for two. Statlander with a backbreaker, Shida grabbed the arm leading to an armbar and Statlander got her foot on the bottom rope to break the hold. The fans chanted “Shida” although it wasn’t that loud. Shida hit a superplex while Statlander was on the apron leading to a two count. Good spot. Shida charged, Statlander blocked, Statlander with a jumping kick and Statlander with a clothesline. Statlander put Shida on the shoulders leading to a face first slam followed by an ax kick for a two count. Shida countered a slam attempt into a rollup for two. Running knee by Shida got a two count with Shida doing a good job of acting shocked by that. Statlander with a kick to the head, Shida with a rising knee and Statlander hit a sitout slam for two. Statlander with a cradle Tombstone called the Big Bang Theory (since she’s an alien) for the pinfall win after 9 minutes. The announcers called it a major upset.

Winner by pinfall: Kris Statlander

Analysis: **3/4 It was a competitive match to put over Statlander as a new wrestler that is also on the rise in AEW. Statlander had some good moves while Shida kept going for those knee strikes. The idea behind the finish was to show that Statlander is going to be a threat in the women’s division after picking up her first win. The AEW women’s division always feels like people are trading wins except for Riho, who is the champion that doesn’t have a rival. Does the loss mean that Shida doesn’t get the next title shot? We don’t even know who gets the next title shot or when. If the rankings are going to continue to be talked about, they need to be more of a focal point in the storylines.

The lights went out in the arena, then when they came back on, Awesome Kong made her entrance with Brandi Rhodes, who had a microphone in hand.

Brandi said that you have all been clamoring to try to know more about what she has been doing with Kong. Rhodes said perhaps she can shed light on this subject as she got into the ring with Kong while Statlander and Shida. Brandi said they are the Nightmare Collective while adding that nobody asks any questions. Brandi said that she has no business with Kris, yet here she is all up in her business. Brandi said perhaps it’s an opportunity for Kris and said they are a family that aims to grow. Brandi told Statlander to pledge herself to the Nightmare Collective, they will take care of her and told her to pledge herself right now. The fans chanted “no” for this. Kong got in Statlander’s face. There was a woman in the crowd saying she wants to pledge. They let the fan go into the ring and she offered a lock of her hair, so Kong cut some of the hair. The woman’s name is Melanie Cruise, but they didn’t mention it on air. It was another “trophy” added to the belt of Kong. They went to the commercial split screen again.

(Commercial – Awesome Kong cut more of the woman’s hair. Brandi called for somebody to come down to the ring with clippers. Brandi shaved some more hair off the woman’s head. Brandi and Kong left with the woman to the back.)

Analysis: This is now the second “cult” in AEW since the Dark Order has people committing to that group. Clearly, somebody in AEW management has a cult fetish. This also reminded me of Serena in the Straight Edge Society, but that was ten years ago, so it’s fine to do something similar.

Christopher Daniels of SCU made his entrance alone. Pentagon entered as the opponent and the story here is that he attacked Daniels in the past, which led to Daniels being injured.

Daniels jumped on Pentagon while he was still on the ramp. Daniels with a clothesline. Pentagon with a back body drop on the ramp followed by a superkick to the back of the head. Pentagon with a clothesline that sent Daniels into the ring to start the match.

Pentagon vs. Christopher Daniels

Pentagon with a kick to the leg, Daniels tackled him and punched him a few times. Daniels with a belly to back suplex. They battled by the turnbuckle, Pentagon kicked the leg and then hit a double foot stomp to the chest.

(Commercial – Pentagon continued the attack with a chop to the chest followed by an eye poke and a kick to the back. Pentagon kicked Daniels to keep him down. Pentagon with a corner clothesline. You can tell they were just stalling waiting for the commercial to end.)

Pentagon remained in control with a jumping kick, but Daniels came back with a flatliner. Daniels with a chop to the chest, kick to the face and an exploder suplex. Daniels with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Pentagon ran the ropes leading to a Slingblade neckbreaker for two. Daniels with a clothesline to the back of the head. Pentagon tried an attack on the ramp, Daniels blocked, Pentagon with a kick and a dropkick by Daniels. With Pentagon down, Daniels tried the moonsault off the top, but then he went down hard on the ramp. Ouch. I don’t think that was a part of the match even though the announcers tried to cover for it. Daniels with a punch to the face followed by the Angel’s Wings slam. Rey Fenix went down to the ring to distract the referee to help his brother. Daniels with a STO on Pentagon. Daniels brought the microphone stand into the ring, looked at it, tossed it down, the referee got it out of the ring, Pentagon with a low blow kick and Pentagon hit a package piledriver for the pinfall win after 9 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Pentagon

Analysis: **1/2 It was just an average match that I thought would be better. They had some sloppy moments and it just never got going to that next gear. Their timing seemed off a bit. The booking of Pentagon and Fenix is weird because there are times where they look like heels, but they are cheered like faces. Kicking a guy with a low blow to win is heelish, yet the announcers don’t rip on them for cheating. The wins for Fenix and Pentagon in singles matches showed they had a good night considering they have lost way too many matches as a team.

The trio of The Blade, The Butcher and The Bunny (Allie) were shown for a promo where The Bunny said was their first order of chaos. The Bunny complained about seeing Cody’s face everywhere in AEW and said it was disgusting. She said they were there to cause pain and destruction. The Bunny: “We’re here to cut the head off the snake.”

Analysis: It’s another tag team that acts and looks weird. That seems to be common in this company right now.

Joey Janela made his entrance for the main event. They posted the record for Janela noting that he’s 1-3 in singles and 2-4 overall.

Analysis: My immediate thought when I see Janela, as well as his record, is that he’s not a main event guy. To me, he’s just a guy to put over Moxley. Think about what the average fan sitting at home is thinking. They see this guy with that record, they aren’t impressed by him and they might change the channel. If AEW cares so much about wins and losses, why is a 1-3 guy in the main event? You can’t have it both ways where you tell the fans that wins and losses matter and then ignore the records when it comes to setting up main events. I’m not hating on Janela as a performer. I’m just saying from a storyline standpoint, Janela has not been presented as a main event guy at all. When Darby Allin and Scorpio Sky got main event matches, they earned them. Janela lost to Shawn Spears at Full Gear last month, yet he’s main eventing while Spears has done nothing since then. It’s weird booking.

Jon Moxley got one of the loudest reactions of the night. JR said that Moxley was a “dangerous man with rattlesnake tendencies” as a reference to the “rattlesnake” Steve Austin. Moxley is the same type of face, so I don’t think JR mentioned the “rattlesnake” by accident. Moxley entered the arena by walking in through the crowd. Moxley is 3-0-1 in singles action in AEW, so he’s undefeated like Chris Jericho is in singles action. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela

Moxley with a shoulder tackle, Janela with a running elbow to the chest. They got into a chopfest, then Moxley with a headbutt, corner clothesline and Janela sent Moxley to the ramp. Janela jumped off the top rope with a double axehandle, Moxley sent Janela into the ropes and hit a clothesline.

(Commercial – Moxley continued the offense with an elbow drop followed by a rest hold where he pulled back on Janela’s arms. Moxley stomped on the chest three time followed by a chinlock. The action spilled to the floor with Janela whipping Moxley into the guardrail.)

There were six minutes left in the show as Janela sent Moxley into the ring and Moxley suplexed Janela into a slam for two. Moxley took Janela to the ramp again, Janela back into the ring, kick to the face and Janela jumped over the top leading to a DDT on the ramp. Good move. Janela up top, Moxley to the floor, Janela with a suicide dive and then back in the ring, Moxley wasn’t selling either big move he just took. Janela hit a slam off the turnbuckle for a two count. Janela with a forearm, superkick and Moxley came back with a clothesline. They did a spot by the turnbuckle where Janela sent Moxley back first into the turnbuckle. Janela went up top and jumped onto Moxley on the floor in a spot that also broke a table. They went with the wrong camera angle there because we couldn’t see Janela’s dive. The dude is on the top rope! Show him! They didn’t even show a replay either. Back in the ring, Janela hit a top rope elbow for a two count. They battled on the turnbuckle again, Moxley picked Janela up and dropped him face first into the top turnbuckle with Excalibur screaming as if it was the Paradigm Shift into the top turnbuckle, but it’s not really the same thing. Moxley followed up with the Paradigm Shift DDT in the ring for the pinfall win after 10 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Jon Moxley

Analysis: ***1/4 Good match with an obvious result. Moxley winning was never in doubt although I liked how Janela looked because he got in plenty of offense. There were a few minutes there where it was all Janela on offense. If I can be picky for a moment, they rushed some spots probably because of time. Moves like a DDT and a table bump were no sold almost immediately. You need to sell those as big spots. The announcers tried really hard to get Janela over by putting over how much heart he had in continuing to fight back. The problem is when the match is only ten minutes long, it’s not like he is putting up much of a fight. I get what the announcers are trying to do because they do it with other guys in the main events that have no chance of winning, but it felt like they were reaching here. I think Janela has a lot of potential. The problem is he’s not being booked like a credible star. They need to get him a meaningful feud that he can win. As for Moxley, he continues his undefeated ways in singles action.

Post match, Chris Jericho’s music hit. Moxley looked into the crowd. Jericho showed up in the crowd along with his Inner Circle buddies Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz and Sammy Guevara. Jericho had the AEW World Title. This is similar to last week when Moxley stared at Jericho last week. Moxley signaled to Jericho to bring it, but Jericho was content to stay up there in the crowd. There was the Jericho/Moxley staredown to end it.

Analysis: I think we can pencil in Jericho vs. Moxley for the AEW World Title at their next PPV whenever it is. I assume it will be February or March. Anyway, that should be an awesome match when it takes place because they are the two biggest stars in the company right now and also the two guys that are booked the best as well.

Three Stars of the Show

  1. Jon Moxley
  2. Rey Fenix
  3. Dustin Rhodes and The Young Bucks

The Scoreboard

This week: 6.25 (out of 10)

Last week: 7

2019 Average: 7.53

Last 5 Weeks: 7, 7.75, 7.25, 8, 7.5

Final Thoughts

This week’s Dynamite gets a 6.25 out of 10.

I felt like this week’s Dynamite was a bit of a step back from what it has been. I think the show was pretty good in terms of a couple of matches, but there wasn’t a single match that stood out. I liked the opening tag team match the most although the ending with the cell phone spot was so lame. The main event result was obvious, so that hurt the match. It just didn’t feel like a main event level match since Janela has lost nearly every match he’s had and you know Moxley is going to win easily. That hurts the presentation of the match even with the announcers trying hard to get Janela over.

There are storyline issues all over as I tried to point out throughout the review. Do we really need two cults with the Dark Order and the Brandi/Kong pairing? It seems repetitive. The guys like Jericho, Cody and Moxley all came across as the biggest stars by far. Is that because of how they are booked in AEW or because of where they came from? I think it’s a little bit of both. I’d like to see some progress made by others. In the past, Darby Allin was featured a lot and then he is off the show this week. The tag team division was mostly ignored. They have nothing for guys like Adam Page, Kenny Omega and Pac too. They need to utilize their best guys in a better way. There are many others with no feuds or matches to get excited about.

It would be nice if they sold moves more. Guys took bumps on the “steel” ramp, they went through tables and it was barely sold at all. Why should we care to react to big spots if the wrestlers don’t care to sell? It’s part of telling a story. Do a better job of it, please. Sell, sell, sell! That is all.

There were some sound issues early in the show too. I don’t know if it was just my feed here in Canada or what, but I could barely hear the announcers early on. It improved as the show went on.

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John Canton

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