AEW graced our televisions for its fourth week at the University of Pittsburgh, and guys and gals, it got chaotic.
Cody has a special announcement to make at the top of the second hour. He’s in the ring with Tony Schiavone but the Inner Circle, who bought tickets to the show, have air horns so they can hijack and make it all about them.
Cody tells Jericho that there’s no invisible wall around the ring like at “that other wrestling company” and he can come up there and fight. Jericho calls Cody a coward and an entitled millennial little b****. So Dustin, MJF, and DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE come out to even it up and Cody and his friends climb up the stairs. Jericho and the Inner Circle lock themselves into a room but Cody smashes the window of the door and an all out brawl ensues all the way to the refreshment area!
It’s absolute chaos with garbage cans and a crutch from a fan and Cody serves Jericho a face full of Dippin’ Dots. The brawl portion of this felt organic which is everything I love about pro wrestling.
I have to point out the obvious though. It’s fun to poke at WWE for tired tropes and bad storytelling, but it’s only right to hold both companies to the same standard. AEW now needs to explain how Jericho got a live microphone as a paying ticket holder.
Shades of the Dean Malenko with Moxley applying the Texas Cloverleaf submission! Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TNTDrama pic.twitter.com/8rzmnlbiZS
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) October 24, 2019
Time Limit My Ass!
Moxley vs. PAC was the main event on this show. As Mox makes his entrance, PAC attacks him from behind and chokes him out at the bottom of the ramp. Like I said last week, PAC is pissed. Pissed PAC is relentless and vicious. These dudes are chaotic wrestling. It’s exactly how I see two dudes beefing going at it. No rest, no break, just put your opponent down by any means necessary. The announcement of how much TV time is remaining by minute adds to the sheer anxiety of it all. We’re made to believe Mox will win as he Death Rider DDTs PAC with 7 seconds left but the kickout! Oh the kickout and the match ends in a draw. The crowd boos but Moxley channels us all and DDTs the referee.
Wish we could’ve done that to WWE referee Rod Zapata a few weeks ago!
The Rest
Lucha Bros def. Private Party – This was absolutely the right match to start the show. Both of these teams are athletic as hell and gel both with each other and their opponent. The Silly String by Private Party to Pentagon wowed me. Lucha Bros brought an intensity I’ve not seen before. Private Party hit Fenix and then realize Pentagon was the legal man, and it costs them the match. Honestly, I didn’t even know who was legal at times.
Post-match a video package plays for a JACKED dude named Wardlow.
SCU def. Dark Order – Dark Order are treated with a little video package pre-match. It is during this match Inner Circle walk into the arena and find their seats which is unfortunate because it takes everyone out of this match for a few minutes. Grayson launches himself over the ring post to Kazarian on the outside which freaked me out and while I haven’t really connected with them yet, stuff like that grabs me. SCU and the Lucha Bros will face off for the AEW tag team titles.
Young Bucks def. Best Friends – Mr. Freshly Squeezed Orange Cassidy is out with Best Friends and before the match starts, gets in some of the hardest hitting offense I’ve seen in all my years of wrestling. You just have to see it to believe it. The Bucks superkick him out of the ring and the match starts. After the doomsday knee by Chuckie T he waves to the camera and says “Hi Mom!” This one’s another fast-paced match, which is becoming quite the trend for AEW tag matches. I’ve got a bit of an issue with that, but we’ll get to that soon. After the match, the Young Bucks accept Jericho’s challenge for them vs. Santana and Ortiz at Full Gear.
Kenny Omega def. Joey Janela - You get the feeling that Joey and Kenny want to one up each other for the entertainment of the crowd. They scout each other well throughout the match and come up with some sick counters. Janela dives spine first onto the apron for our sins and Omega V-Triggers him to hell. Mentioning that this match is happening because of AEW Dark was great promotion of the YouTube series.
Britt Baker DDS def. Jamie Hayter – A quick homecoming match for Pittsburgh’s own Britt Baker. They show a small documentary style video package introducing her. They didn’t have the chemistry I’d hoped for. It was an average match to put Baker over and it accomplished that. Hayter gives Britt a wet willy during a commercial break which… ew. Hayter clearly doesn’t realize that you don’t open your mouth around Baker which is bad scouting on her part. Post-match Hayter is about to be interviewed backstage when Brandi Rhodes attacks her without explanation.
What’s great about AEW is the incredible fun and excitement that comes with so much talent allowed to come into their own. No one sounds scripted and everyone is genuinely having fun. I appreciate what AEW is doing with their show. We need to address something though. Next week is Dynamite’s one month anniversary and we’ve gotten plenty of fast paced tag team matches.
We need more. We need video packages and promos putting over said amazing talent. AEW got it right with Cody’s video package last week. Give us more. What are MJF’s motivations? Why does Moxley matter besides being a complete bad ass? Who is Riho? Answering these questions and others will do wonders for fans who are not fully aware of Being The Elite and didn’t follow the careers of everybody before a month ago. Help us out a bit.
Grade: B
Your turn.