Reviews by Dave
Show air date: January 13, 2020
This was a pretty good Dynamite, pulled across the finish line with two strong title matches at the end, closing on a high note. Some weird stuff in there where they overbooked things but that’s how Wednesday night wrestling goes.
PAC defeated Eddie Kingston
After a really good vignette and promo segments, Eddie Kingston lost to PAC in a very good and physical match that should be the end of this feud. A little soon for me (did they do Luchas vs Butcher, Blade, and Bunny or a six man match and I missed it?) but a fitting end. For some reason, Lance Archer comes out after the match and when he can’t get to Kingston, gets in PAC’s face. This worked so much better when he was just a marauding MurderHawk with Jake Roberts doing the talking. Get back to that.
Miro defeated Chuck Taylor
“The Best Man” Miro beat Chuck Taylor of Best Friends, with the stipulation of Taylor now having to be his butler. This was good and it was the right move for Taylor, who was out to avenge his tag partner Trent, to get in a lot of offense early but as soon as the much larger Miro strung together three moves, ball game.
I like Matthew Hardy as Big Red from “The Five Heartbeats” and Private Party being the Heartbeats but they’ve moved too fast into them being dissatisfied with his take.
Inner Circle Segment
Inner Circle had another segment where they argue and bicker and blah blah. I remember they were a hot heel group. Now they spend all their time fighting each other. The Sammy Hager joke wasn’t funny but Sammy Guevara not getting the reference made me laugh.
Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers defeated Varsity Blondes and Danny Limelight
Don Callis and AEW world champion Kenny Omega swerving the Young Bucks was the best part of this entirely overbooked segment. That was some good comedy even if it doesn’t make sense to screw them over a week after they linked up with you. Omega (if you’re not going to call him “The Cleaner”, drop those chicks with brooms) and IMPACT world champions the Good Brothers beat Varsity Blondes–Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr–and Danny Limelight (Rivera) in a match that was too long and way too competitive. They needed to steamroll these guys. Just mash their asses.
And will someone please tell Khan and his commentators, you are NOT at war with IMPACT Wrestling but with your own champions and Don Callis. IMPACT isn’t f–king with them either. Jon Moxley comes out, gets beat down. The Lucha Bros save him because…I don’t know. A bunch of guys then come out. Then the Bucks come out and get popped by the Luchas. Just a messy segment and a little sloppy.
The Debut of Dr. Britt Baker’s The Waiting Room
In the Dynamite debut of Dr. Britt Baker’s The Waiting Room, she interviewed Cody Rhodes and I loved just about all of this. Rebel was great. Baker was great. Cody didn’t say much so he was great. Jade Cargill was fine. A little smoother on the mic even if the verbiage wasn’t great. While the exchange with Red Velvet wasn’t hot, the fight was. The “audience” broke it up though? Huh? Some stuff with Thunder Rosa that was okay but should have been separate.
FTR defeated Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt
FTR beat Jungle Boy Jack Perry and Marko Stunt. Also too long. I told you months ago Luchasaurus was a bad friend and him leaving with Tully Blanchard right there proves it again. Did they really need Blanchard to interfere for FTR to beat them?
NWA Women’s World Champion Serena Deeb (c) defeated Tay Conti
In the best women’s match of the week, NWA World Women’s champion Serena Deeb successfully defended against a game Tay Conti. Deeb was the clear leader and Conti was an able follower and it made for probably Conti’s best match in a long, long time.
Main Event: Darby Allin (c) defeated Brian Cage
Take out a couple of spots and I absolutely loved TNT champion Darby Allin beating “The Machine” Brian Cage in the main event. Cage got to look like a beast with Allin taking a horrible beating and finding a way to win, aided by Sting coming down and taking out Cage’s Team Taz ally, Ricky Starks (where the hell was Powerhouse Hobbs?). Allin hit a crucifix bomb off the middle rope and held Cage down for the 3 count. The last hour, particularly the two title matches, made this one of their all-time better shows.
