AEW Dynamite recap & reactions (May 13, 2020): Pay with interest

AEW Dynamite (May 13, 2020) returned from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. The show featured Cody Rhodes’ road rage, Hikaru Shida earning a title shot at Nyla Rose, Jon Moxley collecting with interest from the Dark Order, and a major announcement involving Mike Tyson.

Get caught up on all the Dynamite details with the excellent live results and play-by-play from Claire Elizabeth.

First and foremost, Mike Tyson is coming to AEW. You read that correctly. Tyson is coming to Double or Nothing on May 23. He will present the TNT Championship to the winner of Cody Rhodes versus Lance Archer.

Damn! That news is bonkers. I love it. Tyson has a certain chaotic magnetism that demands attention. He has to punch someone at Double or Nothing, right? I was going to suggest he punch Jake Roberts, but Tyson might pulverize The Snake into dust. That’s probably not a safe idea. I do hope we get a taped chat segment next week from Iron Mike to hype the event.

Pay with interest

The main event match was Mr. Brodie Lee against Christopher Daniels. Jon Moxley had been seen earlier entering the venue, so you knew he would make his presence felt during the segment. After all, Mr. Brodie still had the stolen AEW World Championship in his possession.

CD utilized a hit-and-run strategy early, but Mr. Brodie was too powerful. CD found success later with a flurry of signature maneuvers. Mr. Brodie was even on the verge of losing. This caused 10 (Preston Vance) to create a distraction. That led to the creepers fighting with SCU and Colt Cabana. Mr. Brodie regained control by countering a missile dropkick into a powerbomb. A discus lariat ended CD’s evening as Mr. Brodie was victorious.

The match itself was entertaining, but I don’t think it was the right story to tell prior to Double or Nothing. Seeing CD doing his darndest for an upset was exciting, however, it kind of diminished the mystique of Mr. Brodie. Lee had a fresh persona of power. Not anymore. CD is a wily veteran, but he shouldn’t have been on Mr. Brodie’s level on this night. Lee had to rely on cheating and trickery at the first moment of adversity. That doesn’t convince me that he will stand a chance against Jon Moxley.

Speaking of Moxley, he came down through the fan section after the match. Mox beat up the creepers with vim and vigor. Mr. Brodie shoved the last creeper into the ring to buy time to escape with the title belt. Moxley had a message for Lee.

Moxley can admire guts and seizing opportunities, but he will not suffer disrespect. Mr. Brodie made a very foolish decision. He will pay dearly with interest. There will be a hail storm of violence at Double or Nothing.

Moxley sure knows how to talk up a big match. After tonight, I don’t think there is any chance of Brodie Lee winning the AEW World Championship. I do want to tune in to see Moxley rain pain down on all of the Dark Order.

Stsif depat?

I don’t know what stsif depat means, but Cody Rhodes was rearing to go to start the show.

Jake Roberts and Lance Archer opened the show to address their actions last week of placing a snake on top of Brandi Rhodes. AEW requested that Roberts apologize for that incident. Roberts didn’t take kindly to that notion. When Brandi Rhodes kisses Jake’s ass, then he’ll say sorry. As far as Roberts is concerned, women are good for cooking, wiping baby butts, and keeping him warm in cold weather.

Roberts turned his attention to Cody. Time is up. No more hiding. No more excuses. It is time to pay the piper.

Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!

The cameras cut to the back to see Cody revving his truck engine. Cody drove his truck through the arena barriers. He exited the vehicle with taped fists for a fight. Cody and Archer brawled back and forth. It ended in a stalemate with counters and escapes from signature maneuvers. Roberts pulled back his hoss. The evil duo exited to the back.

Ah, so I guess stsif depat means to drive your truck into the arena, smash some stuff, and seek redemption with taped fists. I’ll have to add that term to my verbal repertoire. I hope people won’t think I’m trying to say suffering succotash.

The opening segment was rambunctious. I’m glad Roberts and Archer kicked off the show, because the reaction to last week’s snakening was my most pressing question. I really wanted to see how Cody would react, and he didn’t disappoint. Cody charged in with horsepower and rage. It was the type of wild segment that makes wrestling fun.

The brawl between Cody and Archer was interesting as well. Despite the fury of the moment, both men still had the wherewithal to recognize each other’s heavy wrestling moves and adjustment accordingly. If their TNT Championship bout at Double or Nothing is similar in style, then it should be a doozy.

Holy Shida

Nyla Rose has an official challenger for her Women’s Championship at Double or Nothing. Hikaru Shida defeated Penelope Ford, Kris Statlander, and Britt Baker in a four-way. Shida has defended her top ranking for 11 straight weeks, so the title match was made.

The story of the four-way was Baker’s focus on payback to Shida for breaking her nose awhile back. Statlander would insert herself into Baker’s business and pay the price later. Before that, Baker desperately tried to reason with the alien via a series of nose boops.

In the end, Baker had enough of Statlander’s meddling and applied her Lockjaw submission with malice on the floor. Meanwhile in the ring, Shida executed a brutal backbreaker to Ford.

A running knee strike put Ford away for Shida to win.

This bout had a variety of nifty moves, but the story in the ring is what made it cool. Baker’s determination to harm Shida only to switch focus toward the intruding Statlander was a nice touch. The women haven’t been featured much lately, so it was good to see these details not forgotten or pushed aside.

Baker continues to maximize her minutes week after week. Her taunting and expressions are excellent. I enjoy the adjustments to her wrestling style as well. It is more rugged and focused on inflicting pain.

Later, Lexy Nair interviewed Shida about facing Nyla. Nyla interrupted with good news. She found Shida’s missing kendo stick. The bad news was that Nyla bonked Shida on the head with the stick. The unprovoked attack turned their fight into no count-out and no DQ.

That was a quick and effective way to make this feud personal. I was already cheering for Shida to become champ. This adds extra spice to the mix.

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Let’s jam through the rest of Dynamite. These segments won’t be listed in order of occurrence this week.

Best Friends defeated Jurassic Express. Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy were ringside. Top sequence was a Best Friends double team suplex to Luchasaurus on the floor, which led to a hug, then Jungle Boy diving with a tope con hilo onto the Best Friends.

The finish involved surprise shenanigans. After a tornado DDT by Trent, OC was firing up on the entrance ramp. Boom! Fenix came out of nowhere with a leaping kick to knock OC unconscious. As everyone was focused on that, MJF ambushed Jungle Boy and rammed him into the ring post. Chuck Taylor took advantage with an Awful Waffle piledriver on Jungle Boy for the win.

After the match, Wardlow ragdolled Marko Stunt into the guardrail for good measure.

This bout had potential tag title shot ramifications with two top 5 teams. Due to interference, I don’t think Best Friends truly earned the points of victory to leap over Dark Order into #1. AEW agrees. They scheduled Best Friends versus Private Party for the PPV pre-show. The winner will earn a future title opportunity against Hangman Page & Kenny Omega.

MJF defeated Lee Johnson. Wardlow was ringside. Total domination from MJF. He won with a double underhook shoulderbreaker then an armbreaker submission. MJF grabbed the mic to declare he needed to work out ring rust. He noticed Marko Stunt had an open contract and put his own name as the opponent. Stunt will be MJF’s tune up for Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing.

MJF looked fantastic. He didn’t mess around. It was pure superiority in talent to demonstrate that he is better than us and we know it. I like how the attack to Stunt earlier wrapped back around to MJF having a match with him next week. It is the attention to these little details that really elevates the storytelling.

Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy defeated Santana & Ortiz. Hardy was in Damascus form. Sweet action with a silly comedic moment from Sammy Guevara. Hardy had Ortiz locked in a butterfly submission. Sammy came out from the back wearing a neck brace and with a severe limp after being run over by a golf cart last week. Sammy’s stiffness paid a price as he ate a Twist of Fate from Hardy. The good guys won when Omega exploded for a V-Trigger to Ortiz on the turnbuckles and Hardy cleaned up with a Twist of Fate.

I was disappointed Santana & Ortiz lost, but the Inner Circle can’t win them all. Moving on to bigger and better things, such as a Stadium Stampede.

Chris Jericho defeated Pineapple Pete (aka Suge D). Jericho was joined by the full Inner Circle. He was also carrying a baseball bat. Pete unloaded blows with fire to start the match. Unfortunately, Pete ran right into a Judas Effect elbow strike. Le Champion pinned him without showboating.

This was a creative rendition of a squash match. The whole feud evolved organically by accident. Pete realized this was his big shot, so he made the most of it.

Afterward, Jericho issued a message to the Elite. He’s giving them a chance to get their act together to face the Inner Circle one more time. The match would be a Stadium Stampede. Dastardly deeds in the middle of a football stadium.

Vanguard 1 zoomed in with an answer. The Elite accepts. Jericho rescinded his previous invitation to Vanguard about joining the Inner Circle. They found a new sixth member in the form of a baseball bat named Floyd. Whack!

Jericho swung and hit Vanguard. The Inner Circle took turns destroying the drone. Matt Hardy ran out distraught at Vanguard being smashed to smithereens. The Inner Circle laughed at his emotional pain.

Just when you think the Inner Circle can’t get any more ridiculous, they top themselves once again. Jericho demolishing Vanguard was goofiness at its best. After last week’s street fight as an example, the Stadium Stampede is going to be nuts.

Sad Darby, take two. Taz interviewed Darby Allin.

Taz apologized for last week about bringing up Darby’s loss to Cody Rhodes. Taz then proceeded to rub it in with great analytic detail of Darby’s technical error. Taz still wanted to help Darby. Darby said Taz doesn’t get it. He is aware of how Cody beat him. Darby explained that he is a former 3rd place Idaho wrestler. Darby exited with haste.

I love Taz’s ham-handed way of trying to demonstrate his knowledge to earn Darby’s trust. It seems to have backfired. I don’t want to root for this version of Darby. He’s coming off like a sore loser and a bit of a knucklehead. This story definitely has my interest though. I am very curious to see how Darby evolves to sharpen his skills.

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Stud of the Show: Animo!

My favorite moment of the broadcast was Fenix flying into screen with a kick to Orange Cassidy’s head.

That made me laugh so hard. Credit to production for the perfect angle to allow maximum surprise. There was zero indication Fenix would appear. It does make sense though as a continuation of the Death Triangle feud with the Best Friends.

Fenix and Orange Cassidy have a match next week on Dynamite. OC better bring all his effort from the start or else he will get blitzed into oblivion. Fenix only wrestles in high gear. There shouldn’t be breaks for OC to play his little games.

Dud of the Show: Darby Allin

As mentioned, this pouting version of Darby is not someone I want to root for. His doofus rating is increasing by the week.

Grade: A-

This was a solid show elevated by the Mike Tyson announcement and the new matches for Double or Nothing. It was fun and left me with a feeling of excitement for next week and the PPV on May 23.

Share your thoughts about this episode of Dynamite. How do you rate it? Do you like the direction for Double or Nothing?

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