Reviews by Dave
Show air date: August 5, 2020
AEW Dynamite this week was solid. Nothing great but some “really good” and somethings that again exposed some of the weaknesses of the way they do their show. They decided to go with some color this week. That’s always interesting.
The Dark Order defeated The Elite and FTR
If you ever wondered how many Dark Order members it would take to beat any number of Elite, the answer needs to be a 2 to 1 ratio as the Dark Order beat the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page and FTR in a 12 man match. Just a sequence of moves at first, but a real match breaks out when the DO get the advantage after Dax Harwood of FTR has his knee injured doing a Decapitation elbow with Cash Wheeler. Of course both of them AND Hangman Page go to the back (making me flashback to the WWF Main Event on NBC show in 89). Matt Jackson gets to look tough. Mr. Brodie Lee literally stands there and watches Page hit his mandatory moonsault to the floor. Lee hits the Discus Lariat on Omega. They win. Colt Cabana is still undefeated since joining. That jawn was long.
The Best Friends defeated Santana and Ortiz
Best Friends–Trent and Chuck Taylor–clearly need to ask for a raise so Trent can stop borrowing his mom’s minivan. But they go and beat Santana and Ortiz in a good tag match. I refuse to call them “Proud and Powerful” until AEW actually does.
Matt Hardy Promo and Brawl with Sammy
The now Matthew Hardy talks a bit and shows he’s a dick because he thinks Sammy Guevara is supposed to listen to him. Sammy beats his ass, leaving him a bloody mess. I liked the brawl.
Santana and Ortiz destroy Trent’s Mom’s Car
That goes immediately into Santana and Ortiz get some payback by vandalizing and stripping the minivan. Best Friends cut a good (and funny) promo. But I say they had it coming. That is clearly not a parking space. Someone should have booted it.
MJF Campaign Headquarters
AEW visited MJF’s campaign headquarters and this was actually better than his long-ass promo last week.
Cody and Matt Cardona defeated The Dark Order
CODY and the debuting Matt Cardona beat Alex Reynolds and John Silver in a good enough TV match. They must be concerned Cardona is rusty because CODY got so much of this match. But the DO guys got to look good. After the match, Scorpio Sky makes it plain that he wants a shot at CODY’s TNT Championship.
The Debate: Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy
Eric Bischoff is the surprise guest moderator for the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. If you just skip the first (seemed like) 30 min of this and go right to Cassidy talking and getting beat down, go ahead. Once he actually talks, OC is good. Best Friends save him from further harm from Jake Hager but Hager being there and them not makes me think OC is just their Best Acquaintance.
Big Swole defeated Reba
Big Swole beat Rebel (Reba) in a squash. Swole should squash Rebel but I hated them playing it like she’s not a wrestler. They said it at commentary but it’s not how it was played in the ring. Rolling Rebel’s center of gravity over shoulders is probably the most inescapable pin in AEW.
Main Event: Jon Moxley (c) defeated Darby Allin for the AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley successfully defended his World title against Darby Allin in a good match that told the story of the bigger Moxley dominating and Allin relying heavily on just throwing his entire body at Mox to get an advantage. MJF, apparently deciding that he rather face Allin than Mox, interfered, busting Mox open with the title belt. The only thing I did not like was Moxley choking Allin nearly out, spinning him around and hitting the Gotch Piledriver with the kid kicking out. AEW doesn’t protect moves there. Moxley wins with the Paradigm Shift DDT in a good match.
Good show with some parts I could really live without but that’s every week with them.
