Reviews by Dave
Show air date: October 7, 2020
Talk about a hot nothing of an episode of AEW Dynamite. The theme seemed to be “The Sun Don’t Shine If Son Don’t Shine.” A strong start, a lot of blah-blah-blah in the middle, and the most uninteresting main event they’ve ever had.
I was uncomfortable with a lot of the Jericho celebration, especially when the faces he has brutalized all year were talking him up. Just let Inner Circle and MJF do it (to build their upcoming thing). But I did love the various celebrity videos. Those were great.
Brian Cage (c) defeated Will Hobbs for the FTW Championship
I don’t get why they talk like the FTW title is a sanctioned title, but I thought the Will Hobbs-Brian Cage opener was a great big man match. If you expected a Hoss Fight, they delivered. The right guy won, so now they need to get Hobbs some wins to get his heat back. I could have done without Taz working commentary with all three regular commentators AND with Ricky Starks, who added nothing. Team Taz made a move after the bout, offering Hobbs membership. Darby Allin stopped them, and I liked they didn’t scamper like roaches but left calmly. Tuck the shirt or don’t, Ricky.
FTR (c) defeated The Hybrid 2 for the AEW World Tag Team Championships
AEW Tag champs FTR with Tully Blanchard beat The Hybrid 2 in a eh match that went on too long and had too many just bad spots (that ref distraction was straight out of WWE) for my tastes. Probably the worst match from FTR since their arrival. The Young Bucks watched from backstage and superkicked a camera. Hella lame. Best Friends come out and announce they will be challenging for the tag titles next week. A customary brawl ensues.
Cody (c) defeated Brodie Lee for the TNT Championship
CODY returns not only to an AEW ring but to his Triple C role, beating Mr. Brodie Lee in a dog collar match. The best part of this was Tony Schiavone, who was at the most famous dog collar match of all time (Piper vs Valentine at the first Starrcade), giving background and Greg Valentine himself being in the audience. The match was just…yawn.
John Silver was there just to get beat up but no one from Cody’s family was out there to counter him. If there was any thinking this would top Piper/Valentine, that went away pretty quick. Cody Cearst Celmsley just beat a guy who beat him in 3 mins and this time the guy had use of a chain. Orange Cassidy came out after so that’s the title match next week. Frankly, Cody should still be hurting from this week so Cassidy should win.
Big Swole defeated Serena Deeb
Big Swole beat Serena Deeb in a good TV match that got the show back on track a bit. I love Swole’s forearm strikes. She’s got some of the best going. Not pretty but it’s supposed to be a fight. Fights aren’t pretty.
Jon Moxley Has Some Words For Lance Archer
Good promos from world champion Jon Moxley and his title challenger Lance Archer in advance of their title match next week.
Main Event: Chris Jericho and Jake Hager defeated Chaos Project
Chris Jericho and Jake Hager beat Chaos Project–Luther and Serperntico–in a flat main event that no one asked for or cared about, despite Excaliber doing a good job of giving some background. The closing with MJF interrupting Jericho’s 30th anniversary in the business was better and the closing credits with Jericho doing everything was even better.
If this wasn’t their worst show, it’s in the running.
