Welcome to Mouthing Off (with MikeJC): Dynamite Weekly the new review feature on SLTD Wrestling, where I give my opinions on what went down on each episode of AEW Dynamite. So I will give my thoughts on all the good, and the bad of each episode every week, as well as giving the “Remarkable Wrestler” of the week. So here are the highlights of the August 12th edition of AEW Dynamite
Young Bucks vs. Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson)
AEW began with a tag match that was preceded by an attack on the Young Bucks during their entrance, by Dark Order underlings, Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and 5 (Alan Angels). Uno and Grayson tried to take advantage of this attack and started the match with the upper hand because of it. The chemistry between these two teams was very evident early and the match was on fire because of it.
I was very critical of Evil Uno from the beginning and he’s definitely done his best to get in shape and improve since not having a lot of great performances in AEW. This was a hell of a match that the Young Bucks pulled off the victory when Nick Jackson rolled up Uno off a reversal of the Fatality and Grayson wasn’t fast enough to break it.
Segment Rating: 6/10
I’m very unsure where this Elite versus Dark Order feud is going. The Young Bucks are kind of taking a back seat in it because they aren’t the tag champs, and they are kind of just there right now trying to support Kenny Omega who is one of the tag champs. While they still have sort of a back and forth going on with Hangman. The fact Hangman is like new best friends with FTR, and The Elite are still unsure what to think of FTR. That seems to be where the Young Bucks focus is currently at, despite the strong performance here.
Also, a tidbit after this saw Omega and Hangman get asked who their favourite tag team was, and Omega immediately answered the Young Bucks, which Hangman didn’t agree and he believed themselves to be the best tag team, and Kenny made a comment saying “I mean we are two singles guys put together.” further showing cracks between Hangman and Omega.
MJF Address / Moxley Makes a Statement
We see MJF make a walk to the ring, continuing to heckle his “campaign manager” and have a subtle nod to the clip of him walking Samoa Joe to the ring that made the ways around the internet this week, by shoving a guy in the security team who walked in front of him. MJF did another state of the union type address about why we deserve a better champion. Showing that he’s way ahead in “the polls” as “people vote” for who they believe should be world champion. Taking credit for the reason Moxley is absent recently because Moxley is afraid of change and of MJF. He said Moxley isn’t used to someone like MJF looking up at the lights, so MJF proceeds to lay down in the ring to coax out Moxley. He believes Moxley isn’t the leader AEW deserves as our champion and that we deserve better.
Moxley’s music hits and MJF thinks he has the upper hand by sending his security to the entranceways in the crowd. Moxley appears on the stage in the standard entranceway, and clotheslines MJF in the back of the head and hits the Paradigm Shift. Moxley states on the mic backstage that they won’t be even after last week until Moxley beats him at All Out.
Segment Rating: 5/10
I thought this was an okay segment, the MJF “State of the Union” is getting repetitive, I get what they are trying to do with MJF “campaigning” to be champion, I just don’t love this direction especially for a feud that involves Jon Moxley. I’m sure these two will have a hell of a match when it happens September 5th, I just hope we don’t continue to get segments like this.
Matt Hardy’s Losing It/Sammy Guevara
Matt Hardy is interviewed backstage by Alex Marvez and Matt is clearly not okay mentally after the chair shot last week that busted him open, during the interview he was going in and out of different characters, saying he will get revenge against Sammy Guevara. In the middle of the interview, Matt thinks he sees Sammy Guevara and he attacks, it turns out to be referee, Mike Posey. Later we see Sammy Guevara before a commercial, holding signs taunting Matt Hardy.
TNT Championship: Cody(C) vs. Scorpio Sky
This was the return of the TNT Championship open challenge, Cody defending here against Scorpio Sky. This match saw a lot of back and forth action between the two competitors. Scorpio Sky is being made to be a big deal in the singles division, the fact it was put over that he broke the top five rankings for the first time in a very long time. The chemistry between both guys is certainly there and they work well all the time.
Scorpio kicked out of the first Cross Rhodes finisher by Cody after Cody had hit it off a reversal of the TKO. Most of the match saw Scorpio work on the ribs of Cody, Scorpio even got a sneak roll-up after receiving a superplex. Scorpio gave it all he got but after a second Cross Rhodes. After the match, Brodie Lee appeared on the screen and said he will be next to challenge Cody at the next Dynamite.
Segment Rating: 7/10
I thought this was a hell of a match, Every week I see these open challenges by Cody show psychology in the matches, and telling a story during the match. The look of the finished championship looks great. Mike Chioda showing up in AEW and making his debut in this match was a nice little wrinkle that surprised me. One thing I noticed since Cody has been doing these open challenges is, even though he coming off as a fighting champion, every time Cody gets a run for his money in these matches he tends to show real frustration after it’s over, I think this is a nice little hint at his eventual heel turn down the line, and I hope it leads to a strong heel run at that.
Scorpio Sky continues to look great as a singles star, and his future in the company is very bright and I could see him as a long-running TNT Champion down the line when Cody eventually gets back in the World Title picture like we expect he will one day.
AEW Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page(C) vs. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy)
Another week, another fifth-ranked contender getting a title shot for some reason. I wish AEW would explain this better. This match was kind of slow-paced for most Omega and Hangman title defences. The match was pretty good though. They all basically played the hits in this match. Jurassic Express did a lot of their combination offence, I love their kick to the face/clothesline to the back of the head to a seated opponent move that they do. Luchasaurus did all of his kicks and had a lot of near falls. Jungle Boy did all of his fast-moving dives and that incredible springboard tornado DDT that he does. Omega and Page were just too much for them. The buckshot v-trigger is a devastating finisher that nobody has kicked out of.
Segment Rating: 6/10
I mentioned earlier how I was unsure where this thing between Dark Order and The Elite was going, but I think based on the next segment the whole Dark Order feud was a place holder for this next thing.
Tag Team Appreciation Summit
We were told we were getting a segment featuring the Rock N’ Roll Express, and Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard. They are joined in the ring by FTR and the Young Bucks. Matt Jackson says that Rock N’ Roll are the reason The Young Bucks exist and that they inspired teams like Shawn and Marty (The Rockers), and Matt and Jeff (The Hardys), all the way to a couple of kids named Matt and Nick Jackson.
Dax Harwood gets on the mic next and says that it’s because of tag teams like Arn and Tully, and Rock N’ Roll Express, that inspired him and Cash Wheeler to be the best and do this at the highest level to support their families and he thanks both teams for that. Ricky Morton got on the mic and said that he’s never seen a team with the chemistry like FTR, and the Young Bucks are the best team in the world today. Then Arn Anderson gets on the mic, says the Young Bucks are taking tag team wrestling to a new level, and that FTR is the best team in the world today.
Then Morton goes to speak again when Tully Blanchard grabs the mic, he says the reason guys like Tom Brady are the best is that they win championships, and neither of these teams in the ring today deserve to be called the best because they don’t have the gold, and he’s not over what happened last year between, Arn, himself, Cody and Shawn Spears.
This prompts Shawn Spears out on the stage, Arn decides to leave and Ricky Morton punches Tully, resulting in Dax’s knee being clipped. He takes his knee brace off and gets up and FTR attacks Rock N’ Roll Express from behind, and they give Ricky Morton a Spike Piledriver, which prompts the Young Bucks to return to the ring and chase them off. Omega and Page come back out after all that has transpired and Page stares at FTR (while he’s drinking) confused about what happened.
Segment Rating: 5/10
I thought this segment was a bit much, I don’t think all of this was needed to setup FTR showing their true colours I would’ve preferred possibly another team-up between the Young Bucks and FTR resulting in FTR turning their backs on the Young Bucks and them having to explain themselves. I understand what they were going for here. They figured the Young Bucks and FTR were here just to talk about their heroes and Tully wouldn’t act out basically, maybe FTR did know and they were behind this?
Maybe this was the seeds being planted of Spears, FTR and Tully forming a group, and this was the plan all along between them. Only time will tell but I thought this could have been done better, this wasn’t Bret Hart revealing the world championship level bad, but it definitely wasn’t great.
Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe
Not a lot to discuss here in this match, this was Heather Monroe’s first AEW appearance. Early she tried to go right after Shida and she ran into a knee strike. Monroe at one point get a foot stomp on Shida for a near fall, but that was the gist of her offensive efforts. Shida hit a suplex into a corner, went for a Falcon Arrow, that Monroe reversed into a roll-up for a two count, only to fall into Shida’s trap and tap out to a Stretch Muffler submission. Shida interviewed after the match firmly said to all challengers “Bring it on”.
Segment Rating: 3/10
I almost gave this a squash or dud rating because that’s exactly what it was, Shida currently doesn’t have anyone coming for her because all the other women were occupied with the tag tournament that we still don’t know is for. So this was just an impressive win for Shida over a new face. Hopefully, they have something for soon as we are weeks away from All Out and we don’t have any idea what she is doing yet.
Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
It was stated before this match that if Jericho won, Cassidy would have to pay for Jericho’s $7,000 Jacket and that the Best Friends and the Inner Circle were all banned from ringside. Before this match earlier in the night we saw Mike Chioda being interviewed, and Jericho walked up and told him he did a great job tonight in Cody’s match and that he personally requested Chioda referee his match with Cassidy. He also stated that he went to bat for Chioda over a decade ago and saved his job and that if Chioda, “does the right thing” he could get him hired at AEW. Chioda states he’d call it down the middle.
The match starts out unlike any Orange Cassidy match, Cassidy went heavy out the gate and didn’t let Jericho get his bearings for the first few minutes of the match. This was the most intense we’ve seen Orange Cassidy because as he stated in the debate last week, this is the biggest match of his career and he isn’t gonna let this opportunity to beat Jericho pass him by. His character is all about mind games, but when he needs to turn it on he does. Jericho later gets the upper hand, and later in the match, Jericho tries to use the bat and told Chioda to turn his back, Chioda teases that he would but he turns around and steals the bat from Jericho.
The finish of the match comes when The Best Friends are brawling with Ortiz and Santana over earlier in the night when Ortiz and Santana stole their belongings and poured bleach all over them. This distracts Mike Chioda which sees Jake Hager appear behind the ref and slam Cassidy. Jericho tries to steal it off that distraction but Cassidy kicks out. Jericho goes for the finish by attempting the Judas Effect Elbow, but Orange Cassidy ducks and cradles Jericho for a 3-count and the victory.
Segment Rating: 8/10
I loved this entire match, I felt it was way better than their last meeting because of Orange Cassidy performing at a level we’ve never seen him at before. The action was great. The only wrinkle I disliked was the whole, Jericho stating if he “did the right thing” he’d get him a job. This seemed forced to me, but regardless of that, I think this is the end of the Jericho/Cassidy feud.
I want to see Cassidy continue to move up the card and possibly even seeing him possibly beating Cody for the TNT title down the line, and that possibly even being the final straw to Cody’s heel turn in the future. As for Jericho, I’m not a fan of the Mike Tyson deal they have been teasing and I hope that isn’t where he’s going after this, but considering Tyson agreed to have a boxing exhibition a few weeks before All Out I don’t know if that will happen anytime soon. So I wonder what’s next for Jericho after this.
Remarkable Wrestler of the Week
For this episode of AEW Dynamite, the Remarkable Wrestler of the Week is Orange Cassidy.
Orange Cassidy showed something tonight, he brought his game to another level and pulled out the huge victory over a legend, Chris Jericho. His performance alone and his bright future is why he’s the Remarkable Wrestler of the Week.
Overall
So that is everything that took place on the August 12th edition of AEW Dynamite. Overall I give this show a 6 out of 10. The best segment of the night was the main event, with the TNT Championship match being a very close second. Orange Cassidy, Cody, and Scorpio Sky all really stood out tonight. The worst segment if you can call it that was the Shida match, simply because it didn’t establish anything and it was a pointless squash match that I almost didn’t rate at all, and the direction of the women’s division continues to not be very clear at all.
So that’s gonna do it for the very first edition of my Dynamite Weekly, I hope everyone enjoys this new feature and this is going to be really fun going forward, thank you, and until next time keep it here at SLTDWrestling.com for more.
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