IT'S WEDNESDAY AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! Light the fuse!
Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Taz on commentary.
MJF's music hits but it's CM Punk! He gets some boos too. Damn, Long Island does like MJF. Also shocked that MJF didn't pull this move first. CM Punk goes right into heel mode! What a fucking pro. Punk takes off his jacket and he is wearing a 4 Pillar shirt with Britt Baker on it. He runs down MJF and the Islanders, the local hockey team, and it's fantastic!
Punk says he has his eyes on the AEW World Championship Match next week and he wants next. And since MJF wants next to, they need to face to figure out who deserves it. That make sense to me. He offers to face him tonight, but doubts MJF will accept. Another phenomenal segment in this feud. I loved this!
We get a video package for MJF and it's fantastic. It puts over New York and himself. MORE OF THESE!
MJF enters for the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal and it's a huge pop! He looks legit choked up to be in his hometown.
Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal: MJF, Wardlow, Dante Martin, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Leo Rush, Matt Hardy, Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal, Lee Johnson, Frankie Kazarian and Lee Moriarty
Lethal immediately tries to eliminate MJF. That was clever. Spears is on the outside helping MJF stay in. Moriarty is out. Hardy gets brass knuckles and eliminates Lethal. That pissed me off. Dante eliminates Hardy. Wardlow and Hobbs face each other in the ring and here we go! They go it and Hobbs is almost eliminated by Wardlow but Leo Rush jumps in to finish it. We go to commercials.
We come back and MJF is hiding behind Wardlow and milking the cheers. Lee Johnson and Leo Rush try to eliminate Wardlow and MJF rushes in to dump all 3 out. Nice story-telling there. We are down to MJF, Starks and Dante. Team Taz advances on MJF but Dante eliminates Starks! Next week, MJF vs. Dante Martin! Dante removes the Team Taz armband.
This was every Battle Royal ever. The crowd loved MJF and didn't care about anything else. They threw in some other storyline moments which was fine. The real match will be next week. **
After the match, MJF mockingly shakes Dante's hand before Starks jumps Dante. MJF debates saving Dante. He rushes to the ring and gets in Starks' face... and joins in the beatdown. What a heel! CM Punk rushes to the ring and MJF rolls out. Dante kicks Starks before Punk hits a GTS as MJF mocks him from the ramp. What a segment. They did a good job of keeping MJF heel while letting the crowd cheer him.
Jungle Boy, Luchasaurs and The Variety Blondes vs. The Acclaimed and 2.0
Max Caster raps to the ring and mocks the Islanders and Anthony Cuomo. Nice! Jungle Boy runs wild early and is able to take out all 4 guys at one point. Blondes come in and work over the heels before they are able to use the numbers to take over.
Heels work over Pillman before he finally makes the hot tag to Luchasaurs. He runs wild and takes out all the heels. Everyone comes in and hits moves before it comes down to Caster and Jungle Boy. Daniel Garcia tries to distract the referee but Eddie Kingston comes out and takes him out. Caster misses an elbow drop and Jungle Boy locks in the Snare Trap for the win. Pretty basic tag match but everyone played their part well and did a good job. Fun TV match ***
Eddie Kingston drags a camera backstage as he talks to the camera. Couldn't hear a damn thing which is a shame. Santana comes in and seems to be trying to calm him as 2.0 and Garcia come backstage and attack the two. Referees and agents rush in to break it up. Looked great! This is how you do a backstage brawl. Don't do anymore tonight. Annoyed we didn't hear what Kingston said.
Tully Blanchard and FTR are backstage. Tully promises to beat the Lucha Brothers again after beating them 3 other times. Their title rematch is this Friday! Can't wait! Great promo from all three!
The Young Bucks vs. Chuck Taylor and Rocky Romero
Adam Cole is with the Bucks (but not in matching colors, just saying). Orange Cassidy is with Taylor and Romero. Nick and Romero start off and show off their great chemistry. The Bucks are to cut off the ring and work over Romero. Bucks get cocky and Romero tags in Taylor but the Bucks take back over again on Taylor.
Back from break, Cole lays out Cassidy on the floor. Taylor takes out the Bucks long enough to make the tag to Romero. He runs wild on the Bucks. Everyone takes out everyone. Culter distracts the referee while Cole and Cassidy run in. Both guys get taken out. Match goes back and forth with a bunch of near-falls for Romero. The Bucks are able to counter and hit a Meltzer Driver out of nowhere to pick up the win. This was every Bucks match. There was a lot of good wrestling and a bunch of high spots. Started a little slow but they picked up at the end. ***
After the match, the Elite continues the beatdown. Wheeler Yuta runs in for the save but the Bucks superkick him and continue the beatdown. Cole hits a Panama Sunrise on Cassidy. They go for a BTE Trigger but Best Friends theme hits... it's a minivan. IT'S SUE!! WITH TRENT! And a terrible haircut. He looks like The Blade. Trent lays out everyone and clears the ring. The babyfaces all celebrate together. Nice moment for the returning Trent. Hopefully he grows his hair back out.
Alex Marvez with Ruby Soho backstage AND Penelope Ford and The Bunny walk in. They say it will be them and Nyla Rose vs. Ruby and two other babyfaces. They do bad comedy, fight, Nyla runs in and then Anna Jay and Tay Conti run them off with chairs. This was a fucking horrible segment and I was embarrassed to watch it. My summary was better than that segment. Yikes!
Tony Schiavone with Sammy Guevara. They mention the open challenge and IMMEDIATELY Cody's theme hits. MASSIVE boos! Cody looks burnt as fuck after last week. Cody says on Christmas Day, Cody vs. Sammy for the TNT Championship. Cody is a fucking heel. Convince me otherwise. Men of the Year are in the crowd and Ethan bury Cody getting a title match over everyone else. They announce that Dan Lambert is coming back. Scorpio mentions he is in the top 5 and yet Sammy won't face him. Sammy says he will face him as we go to break.
We get a video package for Thunder Rosa vs. Jade Cargill. This will be Jade's biggest match yet for sure. Good promos from both women.
Jamie Hayter vs. Riho
Hayter uses her size and power to dominate Riho early on and work her over. Britt takes some cheap shots as well. Riho uses her speed to get some quick offense in. Riho goes for a big dive on the outside and Hayter (kinda) catches her and slams her into the ring post to start the heat segment. Riho starts a small comeback but Hayter's power keeps cutting her off. Riho is able to counter Hayter and hit a Code Red and Foot Stomp for two big near-falls. Hayter takes Riho to the top but Riho counters into a Crucifix Bomb off the top. Running knee and Riho wins it. Hayter looked fantastic here and Riho was good. I feel like Riho isn't working too much in AEW now. Crowd wasn't super into her. Hayter has "future star" written all over her. Match went too long and honestly I might've had Hayter win here with interference. ***
Britt jumps Riho after the bell and locks in Lockjaw.
Taz makes an announcement and says this Friday we get the debut of HOOK!!! HOLY SHIT!
We get a video package for Shida vs. Deed 3 next week! Loved both of their matches so this one should be fantastic!
Tony Schiavone with The Variety Blondes and congratulates them on their win. Lights Out! MALAKAI BLACK IS HERE! Mist to Julia Hart! Light out again! I will be honest, I loved this. Black just shows up and attacks whoever he wants for no reason. I love that.
Bryan Danielson vs. John Silver
Danielson is able to out-wrestle Silver with ease but Silver is quick to answer back with his power, to Danielson's surprise. Danielson suckers Silver into the ropes, cheap shots him to take over. Danielson works over Silver all during the break. Danielson goes for a second rope dropkick but Silver counters into a powerbomb! Looked so good!
The two trade kicks as Silver counters into a heel hook! Danielson kicks at Silver but Silver just smiles! Danielson gets to the ropes. Silver runs wild on the Dragon but Danielson counters a German and hits a roundhouse kick. Danielson misses the running knee and Silver hits a bunch of quick offense for a near-fall. Silver goes for his finisher but Danielson thumbs him in the eye and lays in some hammer fists. Silver is out! Danielson hits a Gotch style Piledriver. Danielson locks in a submission and the referee calls for the bell. Another fun match for Danielson before his title match. Silver looked good enough in the match before Danielson easily took him out. A fun TV main event ***¼
Danielson gets a mic and runs down the list of the Dark Order members whose heads he has kicked in and he realizes that he didn't kick Silver's in. Danielson drops the mic and starts to kick Silver's head in as Adam Page runs out to make the save. He attacks Danielson who bails out. Page promises next week to kick the Cowboy Shit out of Danielson as we close out the show.
This was an episode of TV. There were a few good matches and some nice highlights for sure but nothing really stood out in this episode. It just felt like just another episode of TV. Punk and MJF had two great segments and Danielson and Silver had a good match. Everything else was just there for me. And for as big a show as Winter Is Coming is supposed to be last week, we got very little build up to the show. Acceptable but forgettable episode of Dynamite.
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