Welcome, everyone to the latest edition of #MouthingOff (with MikeJC): Dynamite Weekly, the weekly review feature on AEW Dynamite here on SLTDWrestling.com. I will be giving my thoughts and opinions on all the highlights of the show as well as giving the “Remarkable Wrestler” of the week. So here are the highlights of the Wednesday, February 10th edition of AEW Dynamite.
AEW TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. Joey Janela
Dynamite kicked off with a TNT Championship match, and it was a pretty solid one, it was kind of surprising to me that there was no sign of Team Taz at all (more on them later), and this was a straight up wrestling match between these two which I loved, because it proved Janela can be more then just a hardcore wrestler. There was a lot of great back and forth action, and there was a great sequence midway through the match that saw the two trade shots, followed by a big clothesline by Janela, this lead to trading of pinfall attempts, then Allin hits Stundog Millionaire for two. Janela gets another quick pin attempt for two and follows that up by hitting a quick piledriver for a two count.
Janela tries to capitalize and goes for a top rope move, but Darby turns it around into a Code Red, then hits an STO followed by a Coffin Drop for the victory.
Later in the night Tony Schiavone was interviewing Sting in the ring about the tag team street fight at Revolution, but before Sting could respond, Team Taz interrupts in the parking lot, and Taz says they have a surprise for Sting, Ricky Starks and Brian Cage have Darby Allin knocked out in a body bag, and the bag is chained to the car and they get in the back and drive off and drag Darby in the bag with the car, Sting immediately leaves.
Segment Rating: 6.25/10
I enjoyed this match a lot. Both guys looked good in the ring and Darby won definitively as he should have. The thing I didn’t like, what, did Janela do to earn a title shot? He hasn’t won on Dynamite in quite a while and has wrestling on Dark reguarly and I don’t think it makes much sense for Janela to just be given a title shot randomly just because he’s always the guy they use to get over the stars. Regardless the match is great. The Team Taz stuff later, was more of the same for this rivalry I still don’t understand why Sting is involved in this at all, but they attacked Darby to get to Sting and we’ll see where that goes next week.
Peter Avalon & Cezar Bononi vs. Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson
This was not a good match, I have a big gripe with Cody giving to much to people haven’t won a lot. This match should have ended in less then six minutes because Cody should have been able to wipe the floor with his opponents single handedly. You might think that’s wrong and AEW isn’t about that but there is absolutely no reason why Cody should be giving as much as he did to these guys and that includes the injury angle.
Most of this match was Cody in control until he hurt his shoulder, so Lee Johnson gets the hot tag, and is fired up knocking both guys down and does a nice corkscrew dive to the outside on Bononi, then follows it up with a fisherman’s neckbreaker on Avalon for two, after Bononi broke it up, then Bononi takes Cody outside and Lee Johnson gets a quick roll up on Avalon for the pinfal victory.
Post match, The Natural Nightmares come out to celebrate with Cody and Lee as fans are chanting for Lee, and for some reason you very clearly see QT Marshall glaring at Lee Johnson, whatever that means I guess we’ll see, but could be nothing. Tony Schiavone interviewed Lee to see how he feels he says he has no words and it’s all because of his trainers and the Rhodes family.
Segment Rating: 4.25/10
I get it, this was to showcase Johnson, if that’s the case it should have been a singles match with Avalon. Cody wasn’t needed here and to repeat myself he didn’t need to give so much in the match at all, Cody is the star here, I get it’s a good rub for Johnson to get a win along side Cody but just him being affiliated should be enough, and this match didn’t really need to go the way it went. Regardless of that, Johnson is a good athlete and seeing him perform the way he did is good for the future of the business but I can’t get behind the booking of this match.
“Hangman” Adam Page Interview & Matt Hardy
Dasha is interviewing Page, and asks him if there’s any plans for him to team with Matt Hardy after the way they won big last week. Page initially says know but is interrupted by Matt Hardy who sees big chemistry between them and offers an open bar on him just the two of them, Page says yes because it’s free. Page goes to leave and runs into the Dark Order and they have an awkward exchange as Page is leaving.
Later we catch up with Matt and Page at the bar, and Page is very much drunk. Matt Hardy asks him to reconsider teaming with him and let Matt handle his career for now on, and that Matt can make him the best in AEW and richer beyond his wildest dreams. Page says yes and Matt goes to the side to talk directly to the camera and doesn’t realize that Page switched the contracts, I guess we’ll see what that means in the future.
Segment Rating: 5/10
I thought all of this was fine, I can’t wait for the inevitable Page joining the Dark Order. I love the Matt Hardy stuff recently, and how Page one upped him him. We don’t know what Page actually signed so we’ll have to wait and see but I continue to be intrigued by this story and can’t wait to see where it goes.
PAC vs. Ryan Nemeth
This was a very quick match and is exactly what Ryan Nemeth should be doing when they bring him in. Last week he was given too much against Page just because of who his brother is. PAC won quick, hit the Black Arrow, followed by the Brutalizer for the tap out and the victory.
Segment Rating: 5/10
This was fine because it got PAC a quick win as it should have done for Page two weeks ago, I don’t need Dolph Ziggler’s brother on AEW getting too much out of AEW people just because he’s Dolph Ziggler’s brother. However, this could have been on Dark, and had a better match on this show. Now I get it, I said earlier Cody shouldn’t be giving too much in his matches and then this is what I’d want from Cody only to say it shouldn’t be on Dynamite, think about this, Cody is the star, when was the last time you saw, Cody, the Young Bucks, or Kenny Omega wrestle on Dark, I don’t think Cody or the Young Bucks have ever wrestled on Dark. This was a Dark match, simple as that.
Inner Circle (Chris Jericho & MJF) vs. The Acclaimed
Earlier in the night, Sammy Guevara walks into the Inner Circle locker room and says he wants to talk MJF alone so everyone leaves and he specifically tells the camera man to stay (more on that later). Sammy says he knows what MJF is doing he’s trying to take over the Inner Circle. MJF says he thought that Sammy was jealous of MJF because he’s the new favorite of Chris Jericho, but he thinks Sammy secretly hate’s Chris Jericho, and wants to lead the Inner Circle himself. Sammy repeats what MJF said and MJF says that’s all he needed to hear. MJF goes to leave and picks up his phone and Guevara gets mad that MJF was probably recording him and destroys MJF’s phone and punches him in the ribs.
During a Chris Jericho interview later in the night Jericho says he can’t find MJF and Santana and Ortiz walk up and say MJF is hurt. MJF walks up and tells Jericho what happened, he says we’ll find Sammy later and go have the match.
As for the match, it was a pretty decent match with The Acclaimed looking good even though they didn’t win. A lot of back and forth, with both teams cheating which I’d expect from two heel teams going at it. At one point it looked like The Acclaimed was going to win this when Jericho went for a Lionsault, but Max Caster hit Jericho with the Bluetooth speaker and Anthony Bowens gets a near fall. The Acclaimed go for the Claim to Fame but MJF gets involved and knocks Bowens out of the ring after Caster tagged in. Jake Hager gets involved and knocks Caster of the top rope leading to the Judas Effect by Jericho for the pinfall victory.
Immediately after the match, Sammy Guevara’s music hits. He enters the ring with a mic, and Jericho asks what’s going on with him and MJF. Guevara reminds Jericho that he told him back in December that if anything happened with MJF again that he’d be done, so he’s out here to tell him he’s done. Jericho wants to know what he means by “Done”, he tells Jericho he’s quitting The Inner Circle and everyone except MJF tries to talk to him out of it but Guevara leaves.
Alex Marvez meets Sammy in the parking lot and wants to know what this all means, Sammy says he needs time to refocus and needs time away from this place.
Segment Rating: 5.5/10
Okay so, a lot to unpack here. I liked the backstage segment between Sammy and MJF at first, until it got to the part with the phone. Why would MJF need to record Sammy? Why would Sammy need to destroy MJF’s phone if he acknowledged the camera man? Does that mean Chris Jericho doesn’t watch the show even when he’s on it? That didn’t make sense at all. The match was fine as I mentioned The Acclaimed looked good in a loss and The story of the Inner Circle continues. Now something that stuck out, earlier, in the show, The Young Bucks said that Santana & Ortiz are getting a tag title shot, and part of me thinks that the storyline thing to do here would be for Young Bucks to lose the AEW tag titles here probably by a distraction, and face the Good Brothers at Revolution, and then you have Santana & Ortiz defending the titles against Jericho & MJF, it must makes too much sense not to do and if they don’t do it, I’ll consider it wrong. We’ll see what’s next for Guevara as he is officially not in the group anymore and that could be very good for him.
AEW Women’s Championship Eliminator Tournament Round 1: Leyla Hirsch vs. Thunder Rosa
This was such a good match. It further proved how good both of these ladies are at what they do and why if they haven’t already AEW needs to be signed she’s really good and my only gripe is Leyla should have had a different opponent because she deserved to go passed the first round. There was a lot of back and forth in this match, Hirsch had a lot of great looking strikes in this match and a series of nasty (in a good way) suplexes. Hirsch goes for a moonsault, but Rosa gets the knees up, for a two count. Hirsch recovers and hits a series of knee strikes then goes to the top but misses and Rosa hits a sliding dropkick for two. Rosa goes for a Michinoku Driver but Hirsch counters into the Cross Armbar. Rosa deadlifts Hirsch out of the armbar and slams her and then hits the Fire Thunder Driver for the pinfall victory. It’s then announced the Japanese side of the tournament will start on YouTube on Monday.
Segment Rating: 6.5/10
This was a great match and was easily the best wrestling match of the night (more about that when I discuss the main event next). It was a good way for Rosa to bounce back from her lose to Britt which didn’t really hurt her because of the interference in that match and again Hirsch looked amazing in this match and needs to be signed if isn’t already I’ll repeat that every week she’s on the show until its confirmed. Thunder Rosa will be facing the winner of Serena Deeb versus Riho which is a crazy good first round match so it will be interesting who wins that one. We’ll see how it all plays out but this match was great.
Unsanctioned Falls Count Anywhere Match: Kenny Omega & KENTA vs. Lance Archer & Jon Moxley
This match was all over the place in a good way. It was crazy good, I mentioned how the last match was the best wrestling match because it was, this was the best entertaining match, and there’s a distinct difference. This was hardcore, it was crazy, it was fun, not that the last match wasn’t fun for a wrestling match it definitely was, I think you probably get what I mean.
There’s so much to talk about, but I’ll break it down to the parts of it I really liked. There’s a great sequence early in the match where, Moxley and KENTA are going at it and they trade finisher attempts early, but each reverse it and after KENTA reverses the Paradigm Shift, Omega comes in with a trash can and hits Moxley over the head with it. Then Omega puts the trash can on the ring post, he hits a Rolling Fireman’s Carry then as he goes for his usual follow up of a moonsault he grabs the trash can and uses it with the moonsault, Omega then holds it in the front of a seated Moxley in the corner and KENTA hits a Hesitation Dropkick.
Later they end up in the crowd and Peter Avalon is in his usual spot on a bed, and KENTA sees him and gives him a GTS, Archer then attacks him from behind, and slams Kenny on the bed for a near fall. Moxley and KENTA fight up the aisle into the kitchen at Daily’s Place, and Moxley lays KENTA out onto a metal table, and attempts a piledriver on top of it but KENTA fights it off and hits a DDT, then locks in a crossface, but Archer walks up and hits KENTA with a box of potatoes. When Omega shows up he rams Archer into a stove, and Moxley hits Omega in the face with a potato.
Later on back in the ringside area Moxley is fighting with Omega and Omega hits a V-Trigger, and Moxley ends up laying on a table below the announce table, Archer then attempts to powerbomb KENTA through the announce table but he gets out of it then hits a diving stomp onto Moxley on the table below which doesn’t break.
Omega and Archer are fighting in the ring and Archer is too strong for Omega, and he can’t get any offense on him, everything Omega tries he gets over powered, at one point he attempts a snap dragon suplex but Archer powers out and hits a chokeslam, then he wrings the arm and walks the ropes and hits a moonsault to a standing Omega for a near fall. Archer goes for the Blackout but The Good Brothers come out to help Omega take Archer out.
The closing moments of the match sees Moxley bring a barbed wire bat and fights off everyone for the moment, but he gets hit with a GTS by KENTA, Archer gets back in and goes to chokeslam both Omega and KENTA but they get out of it and Omega hits a low blow. Then Archer receives a Magic Killer, a V-Trigger, and a One-Winged Angel with assistance from the Good Brothers, for the pinfall victory for Omega and KENTA. The show ends with KENTA continuing to attack Moxley and the others celebrating.
Segment Rating: 7/10
This was a hell of a match, hell of a story, the only thing missing was The Young Bucks. The match was all over the place and I loved it. The spots were good and not too crazy. It all made sense and furthered the stories of everyone involved. I had one thing I really hated the entire night but it was more evident in this match, if I never hear the phrase “The forbidden door has been kicked open” ever again I wouldn’t care one bit, I get it, it’s a big deal that these companies are working together, but I don’t need to hear that phrase ever again that’s just me, nothing to do with the match just a nitpick. My intrigue continues to grow with this story it’s clear something will happen with The Good Brothers and The Young Bucks and as I mentioned weird that they didn’t show up during this at all. Archer was the odd man out here, everyone else needs to be protected for bigger things, he will have his time to shine down the line.
Remarkable Wrestler of the Week
For this episode of AEW Dynamite, the Remarkable Wrestler of the week is Leyla Hirsch.
Now I don’t like to give the RWOW to someone who loses, but Leyla Hirsch looked so good in this match it was very clear she has a bright future in the business and I’m saying it again AEW needs to sign her immediately.
Overall
So this was a pretty good episode of AEW Dynamite, overall I give it a 5.6 out of 10. I enjoyed the wrestling on this show, especially the opener, and the final two matches. The storylines that are moving forward are going well, with very little things to be upset about on this show. They need to stop saying “forbidden door” because we get it, and figure out what Sting is actually doing here. Regardless of those last two things I love when wrestling is enjoyable.
What are your thoughts on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @SLTDWrestling.
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