Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: October 16, 2021
AEW Dynamite was back on Saturday night and they did a solid job, following a strong Rampage the night before.
Malakai Black defeated Dante Martin
Dante Martin put up his strongest effort to date as a singles, giving Malakai Black a tough, tough test since it was Black who chose to answer his open challenge. Martin brought his new adviser, LBO Lio Rush, who seemed extremely disappointed with Martin’s decisions and loss, something he was clear later when he announced to Martin and everyone he would be Martin’s new tag partner. Outstanding opening match.
Didn’t really care about the SuperElite beatdown of Jurassic Express. They’ve beaten them just about every time. This is over.
The Segment Felt Long
I like seeing Santana and Ortiz taking lead in the Inner Circle promo and not “Le Insurrection” Chris Jericho, who went real cheat and bush-league going after the only woman involved with no real way for her to get her heat back.
Lambert and American Top Team have done a great job getting heat in their own city.
I thought that the segment felt long, but Lambert was smart to not give Jericho a 10-man match without TNT champion Sammy Guevara offering one of the Men of the Year–Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page–a title shot. I have no interest in that 10 man match. Three non-wrestlers in a match??!! I’m good.
FTR defeated The Lucha Bros (c)
For the AAA World Tag Team Championship
Penta and Fenix–the Lucha Bros–defended their AAA tag titles against the hand-picked team of Andrade El Idolo, the Super Ranas. Two things: CM Punk calling BS and calling the Ranas out as FTR was great. Secondly, the Bros defending the AAA titles under AEW rules is nonsense. Next time, don’t tell us removing a mask is a DQ in AAA. Good match with FTR winning the titles when Dax Harwood hit Fenix in the face with a title belt as Fenix was attempting a moonsault while FTR’s manager, Tully Blanchard, had the referee’s attention. Good match, good angle.
Jon Moxley defeated Wheeler Yuta
Jon Moxley smokes Wheeler Yuta in less than a minute with the Paradigm Shift DDT. Yes, they’re still spinning Mox’s wheels.
Serena Deeb was supposed to do a backstage interview with Tony Schiavone. But Hikaru Shida, the woman she defeated last week, preventing Shida from winning her 50th AEW match, said “Nah.” Good scuffle in the back, great callback line from Punk on her hair.
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks defeated The Dark Order
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks beat the Dark Order team of Evil Uno, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds. Fine. Good work as usual, but Cole just brings out the worst part of the Bucks. The Dark Order does nothing for me.
Jungle Boy Jack Perry came out and got some payback from the earlier beatdown.
WTF was That Cody/Nightmare Family Segment
WTF was that Cody/Nightmare Family segment? I get why Arn might be frustrated by why the heat with anyone else? And Red Velvet just walked up and slapped him for no reason. Arn Anderson’s talk was the only good part of the whole thing. This is why so much of their own audience has turned on Cody.
Fast Forward.
MJF came out talking. Fast Foward. Sting came out with a bat and dropped Wardlow. Thanks, Stinger.
Anna Jay knew she couldn’t out talk Women’s champion Dr. Britt Baker, DMD so she tried to trade shots with her. I guess she’s up next.
Penelope Ford defeated Kiera Hogan
Kiera Hogan slowed down and let Penelope Ford look as good as she was going to look in a losing effort. Tragic. She needs to keep working for the NWA if she wants people to know she’s any good.
Ruby Soho ran down and got some shots in on Ford for the beatdown Ford and her friend, the Bunny, put on her the night before. Shrug.
Could I Live Without the Profanity?
Winner of the Casino Battle Royal and World title challenger at the Full Gear pay-per-view (November 13 in Minneapolis), Hangman Adam Page delivered his best promo to date and I’m glad they got away from that “alcoholic” thing they were doing.
Could I live without the profanity? Yes, I could. I could when it’s Lambert, Jericho, and Christian Cage. But since people continue to mistakenly believe the biggest time in the industry was the Attitude Era, folks will continue to think being “edgy” means saying “shit” a lot on TV.
Bryan Danielson defeated Bobby Fish
Bryan Danielson was the workhorse of the weekend. On Dynamite, he closed the show with a very game Bobby Fish just under 24 hours after a near 20 min fight with Minoru Suzuki. A high-quality wrestling match to end on with Danielson picking up the win with a nasty-looking heel hook submission. It’s nice to see “The American Dragon” on national TV. I do not miss “Daniel Bryan” at all.
AEW announced the brackets of the World Title Eliminator tournament and any final other than Moxley/Danielson is a mistake.
A solid show with some insane highs but some struggle spots in places.
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