BY Alex Kalil
It's September 15th, 2021 and it's time for AEW Dynamite
CM Punk enters and joins commentary. He is still crazy over and the crowd love him. From this day forward it should be called "The CM Punk Pop". Punk high fives and shakes hands with the fans. Jumping in the crowd and posing with a fan dressed like Dusty. MASSIVE CM Punk chant as he joins commentary.
Adam Cole vs. Frankie Kazarian
Huge pop for Adam Cole (BAYBAY)! Poor Frankie gets nothing as he enters after two legit stars in this company and he is stuck with a very lame "Elite Hunter" gimmick. Very good match. Frankie is able to out wrestle Cole early on but Cole takes over and works him over. Kazarian rallies a little bit, but Cole out-smarts him and finishes him with a Panama Sunrise/Last Shot combo. Nice showcase for Cole to get him over. Kazarian is still a great worker and should be used with younger talent more to give them a chance to shine.
***
Cole challenges Christian, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurs to a match against him and The Young Bucks at Rampage next week. Big match right there.
Lucha Brothers vs. Butcher and Blade promo package. Match is booked for this Friday on Rampage. Good match for the brothers' first defense given their past feud. Should be enjoyable.
Tony Schiavone backstage with Sammy Guevara and Fuego del Sol. Fuego puts his new car up against Miro's TNT title in a match on Rampage
MJF is here for a promo. He buries New Jersey, their sports teams and Bruce Springsteen. That last one is uncalled for. MJF talks to Pillman Sr by first looking at the Heavens before stomping on the ground and speaking to the floor aka Hell. I have seen MJF do this before when speaking about Stu Hart in MLW and it is still amazing here and gets a ton of heat. He insults Pillman Jr's mother more and hypes up their match next week. Pillman's music hits but he sneaks in from the crowd with a chair and chases off MJF and Wardlow. Amazing segment!
JR has a pre-recorded interview with Pillman Jr. They talk about his dad and his match with MJF. This was fantastic as well and needs to be done more. JR is great at these sit-down interviews and really lets us get to know and care for the wrestlers.
Tony Schiavone with Jurassic Express and Christian. They accept the match for Rampage next week. Christian takes a shot at Cole losing a war on Wednesday. Nice touch. Jungle Boy seemed way more comfortable on the mic this week.
FTR vs. Dante Martin and Matt Sydal
Babyface control early with their speed before FTR cuts off Dante and works him over. Kind of a cold tag to Sydal who clears the ring. FTR took back over during the commercial. Blind tag to Dante and he runs wild. FTR are able to use their smarts to hit a beautiful Big Rig on Dante. Very fun match. I expected way more with the talent involved but this was still very good.
***
Commentary talks about The Suzuki Incident. The Internet wins again. Lance Archer talks about him and Suzuki coming after Moxley and Kingston at next week's Rampage. Suzuki-Gun in AEW! YES!
Blackout! And Malakai Black is here. This is one the best entrances in wrestling and no one can tell me different. Glad commentary is silent to let the entrance have it's own aura. Great moment as Black talks to the fans like it's a church sermon. Rosario Dawson is ringside and Black calls her out. (She is a co-host on that TBS game show Cody is on and she is wearing a Nightmare Factory shirt). She gets in Black's face. Cody comes from the crowd. Um, wouldn't he be in the back? Rosario jumps on Black's back. Cody and Black brawl up into the crowd. Goes on too long before going to commercial and no one tries to break it up. Cool idea. Only an okay execution.
Video package for Bunny vs. Anna Jay. Bunny threatens to take Anna "down the Rabbit Hole". I don't see that line getting over. Unless she is joined by Paul London and Killer Kross. Lucha Underground fans will get that joke.
Anna Jay with Dark Order backstage. The Dark Order argue and Anna yells at them and doesn't want them ringside for Rampage this week against The Bunny, but Tay Conti will have her back. This was a bad Raw segment. Hopefully they do something with this group fast! I am losing interest.
Dan Lambert with American Top Team and Men of the Year are in the ring. Lambert cuts a Jim Cornette rant promo on AEW and modern wrestlers. Jericho and Hager come out. Amazing moment as Lambert cuts off Jericho's music and says the fans have to look up the lyrics. The fans responded by singing the song with no music. That's pretty great. Jericho and Lambert go back and forth. Jericho makes a "Who's on top?" joke and brings up his past shoot fights with Lesnar and Goldberg. Nice touch. Jericho and Hager vs. Men of the Year next week.
The Gunn Club cut a promo backstage. They hype up that they are undefeated as a team and trio. I don't care about any of these 3. They shouldn't be on TV.
Jade vs. Leyla Hirsch
Two future women stars right here. Leyla double legs Jade who ducks out the ring. Leyla dives into Jade's lawyer outside. Leyla goes for an armbar but Jade powerbombs her. Jade works her over until Leyla makes a comeback with her superior wrestling skills but misses a moonsault and Jade finishes her off. Extended squash for Jade who still looks great until Leyla tries to amentur style her so maybe don't do that again. Leyla is the best.
**
Recap of Andrade vs. PAC. Andrade is pissed that Chavo interfered in his match. Nice little character promo.
Taz and HOOK come out to confront Punk. Hobbs attacks Punk from behind. Hook Dragon Sleepers Punk. Hobbs spinebusters Punk on to the announce table! Great segment.
We are back from break and they are still putting the announce table back together. Nice touch.
Darby vs. Spears promo package. Spears still leaning into his chair gimmick 2 years later.
Darby Allin vs. Shawn Spears
Spears drives a knee into Darby as he is sitting in the corner. Great stuff. Tries to knee Darby against the stairs but misses and hits his knee. Spears trips Darby on the apron and Darby flip sells it and lands in his head! Jesus! Spears gets a wet towel and takes Darby faceplate off. This match is winning me over. Back from commercials and Spears using the Sharpshooter on Darby because he is Canadian. Darby goes after the knee to take over. These two are really working this match like a heated feud. Spears sits on the stairs and Darby dives into him, knocking him off the stairs! Great spot. Coffin Drop in the ring ends it! WOW! This match over-delivered in a big way.
***1/4
FTR jumps Darby and Sting! Tully with a chair that Sting no sells! FTR swarms him. Spiked Piledriver to Sting! And now Tully wipes the face paint off Sting. What a moment!
Bryan Danielson promo package hyping up the idea of him vs. Omega.
Tony Schiavone in the ring and here comes the American Dragon: Bryan Danielson! Callis insults him and Danielson tells him to shut up and talks to Omega. He wants a match, not for the belt (yet) but just against the Best Bout Machine. Omega accepts. This was great! Danielson was great on the mic and I loved how he didn't play into Callis' game and ignored him and talked right to Omega, who took this all in and only said one sentence. Sometimes less is more in wrestling.
Miro cuts another amazing promo and accepts Fuego's challenge for Rampage. This is the best Miro work in years!
Matt Hardy cuts a promo on Orange Cassidy and wants to shave his head. I don't care about these two or this feud.
OMEGA VS. DANIELSON booked for Dynamite next week!
Grand Slam next week is going to be something special!
Wild Thing hits and here's Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston!
Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. 2.0
2.0 and Garcia jump them before the match. Moxley gets the action in the ring and seems to have everything under control until the numbers get the best of him as 2.0 work him over. We come back to 2.0 batching. Oops. They get it back and recover from it. Moxley gets the tag to Eddie. Lariat and Half and half suplex ends it. Quick but effective match to end the show.
**1\2
Suzuki theme hits! Suzuki walks out with a nice black eye from last week. KAZE NI NARE!!! All is right in the world. Archer gets Kingston from behind! Moxley and Suzuki go at it. Wild brawl to send us home.
Final thoughts: A great episode that build up to next week's Grand Slam shows. These shows are PPVs on free TV and I can't wait. A few dud promos and backstage segments. Nothing too special in the ring this week but they didn't need it. Can't wait for Rampage and next week's shows. Until next time! Follow me on Twitter @AlexKalil for more thoughts and opinions.
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