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, March 10th edition of AEW Dynamite. Also I just wanted to add, the way I’ve been reviewing these shows has been taking a tole on me so instead of breaking down every match like I have been, I’m going to try to break it down without doing play-by-play of the matches and segments and probably just discuss the closing moments, to save time and energy, but pay-per-view reviews will get the treatment they always get.
Rey Fenix vs. Matt Jackson
AEW kicked off with two members from the champions and challengers of the next World Tag Team Championship match. Rey Fenix who earned him and PAC the championship opportunity by winning the battle royal at Revolution and the Young Bucks the champions successfully defended their titles. This was a great match to kick of the show and these two had an answer for each other’s offense early and it showed throughout the match. SCU is shown in the crowd and we are told that they are going to challenge the winner of the championship match when it eventually happens.
I really enjoyed this match a lot. Fenix was on fire like usual and I think he does something extraordinary every match and I absolutely love it. I enjoyed the back and forth and I enjoyed the trading of signature moves. The piledriver on the apron by Matt was nasty and almost got him a count out victory. The close of the match was masterful, Matt hits two superkicks and Fenix kips up out of it and his an enzugiri. Then they square off and superkick each other in the leg, Matt goes for a tombstone but Fenix fought out of it and hits a Fire Thunder Driver for the pin fall victory. A great match to kick off the show.
Segment Rating: 7/10
Just to reiterate this match was great, I’m sure we’ll get a singles match between the partners, Nick Jackson and PAC, down the line. Acknowledging that SCU is next in line despite them not earning it which annoys me but they are pushing to that story where they lose and don’t team anymore so it’s clear to me it will probably be Young Bucks because they are like best friends with SCU but that’s okay because PAC and Fenix as a team are golden even if they lose to the Young Bucks, they are that good. We’ll see how this all plays out.
Cody vs. Seth Gargis
There’s nothing to talk about with this match. It was a full on squash and that’s completely fine because they need more of these. Powerslam, figure four leg lock and a submission victory. I’m completely fine with that, jobbers don’t need a lot of offense at all. The story was after the match, Tony Schiavone wanted to interview Cody, but he’s interrupted by Penta El Zero Miedo, who has Alex Abrahantes who is the Spanish commentator to translate for him.
He says that he’s a better wrestler then Cody and if Cody is the prince of pro wrestling then he’s the lord of lucha libre. Then he says that Cody lost at Revolution, and he’s lucky he didn’t hurt Cody’s arm even more or he wouldn’t be able to hold his newborn daughter. This lights a fire under Cody immediately and I absolutely loved it. They are held apart and later announce they will face one on one next week. So that is gonna be a hell of a match
Segment Rating: 5.75/10
This rating is solely for the segment that followed, at first I hated this until I thought about it, having a translator for this was perfect it made Abrahantes seem like a heel manager without even trying to, that isn’t what they were going for clearly but it absolutely worked. I love this for Penta it makes him immediately credible as a singles and I love that and I’m really looking forward to this match and I hope they build Penta after this.
Ethan Page vs. Lee Johnson
It was very hard to get into this match, because there was some technical issues on TNT’s end where there was some basketball audio playing over this match, I watched the match back and it was really good. Lee Johnson had a lot of great opportunities to showcase his ability here, he has a good looking dropkick he did a blue thunder bomb that looked good. We all knew Johnson wasn’t winning though.
I love the crispness of Ethan Page’s offense, I absolutely love that vaulting cutter he does as well. Late in the match Johnson would hurt his leg after landing on it weird. He rolls to the outside and QT Marshall is just staring at him and Page brings him back in and hits the Ego’s Edge for the pin. He then goes to attack Johnson again by kicking him and QT doesn’t help and Dustin Rhodes comes out to make the save as Page leaves. QT just walked off.
Segment Rating: 5/10
This was a good match, I kind of saw this thing with QT coming a few weeks ago when Lee Johnson was thanking people for getting him here after his big win and he didn’t thank QT and then QT glared at him. That continued at Revolution when he walked out on the battle royal and now this, I don’t know if this story is interesting enough for anyone to care about it. Nobody watches AEW and says “I really look forward to seeing QT Marshall” nobody has said that ever so I don’t know about this. As for Ethan Page I think he is so good at wrestling and I think his future is very bright and I’m glad he finally has this stage.
Kenny Omega/Eddie Kingston & Moxley/Christian Cage
Just so this is all lumped together cause it should be earlier in the night Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley cut a promo, Kingston explained how he says that anxiety took over and the moment took him back to his days in a prison cell. Eddie claimed he think Omega always planned this, but Moxley believes Kenny really wanted to blow him up in the ring then they continue about how bad the bomb was.
This was a lot, Tony Schiavone came out hoping to interview Christian Cage, but out comes Kenny Omega, Don Callis, and The Good Brothers. Callis gets on the mic and says we’re not gonna hear from Christian because Kenny and The Good Brothers decided to take this time. This promo really made me realize how much Don Callis is not needed. They say everything went to according to plan at Revolution except one thing. They claim that IMPACT may have made the explosion that ended Revolution, and loved that the idea that Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley were embarrassed by the situation even though they would have preferred if they were vaporized.
Eddie Kingston comes out, and Callis continues and talks about Eddie’s time in IMPACT which might be the only thing I liked about this. He claimed he always saw his talent and the star in Eddie Kingston but he had to fire him because Eddie always finds a way to screw up his opportunities. Callis says he’s gonna give Kingston ten seconds to leave and a countdown comes on the screen, with the same sound effects from Sunday. Kenny and Callis pretend like they are gonna blow up and make fun of the Moxley and Kingston moment and Kenny has the best line of this entire thing where he goes, “69 me Don”, I laughed out loud literally at this. A fight breaks out after this as Eddie has heard enough and he practically knocks Kenny out for the time being with one punch.
Jon Moxley who is not selling any injuries that are as heavy as the one had by auto accidents, really also comes out to help, then the brawl breaks out between them and The Good Brothers. If you get severely injured in such situations, it is advised to consult experienced work injury attorneys, who can help you to claim compensation for the injury caused. Now here comes the part that didn’t need to happen. Christian Cage’s music hits and Jim Ross notes that he didn’t know the music which was not good for him. Christian enters the ring as Kenny is getting back to his feet and they have a stare down and are talking Kenny wants to shake his hand but Christian declines and Omega goes to hit Christian but its turned around into a Killswitch attempt but Callis helps him out and Christian picks up the AEW World Championship and looks at it as Omega looks on in frustration.
Segment Rating: 4.75/10
Okay so first thing out of the gate, I hate that AEW has been doing this thing where they promote that someone is going to speak and we get someone else or the person who is about to speak gets interrupted immediately and doesn’t say a word. They need to stop that completely because its annoying. Okay I liked how they tried to explain away the bad explosion and as I’ve mentioned previously I loved the match a lot at Revolution and unlike most that bad explosion which took place after the match didn’t take away from how good the actual match was for me, at this point I accept the explanation and they should move on from this and never talk about it again.
Okay now the parts I hated, number one, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston but especially Moxley should have taken a week off if he’s not taking an extended break he should have at least sold the injuries of the actual match and not been there week one after a bad explosion. Number two and the biggest problem of this segment, AEW has created this expectation from day one that they aren’t going to be TNA lite, they have said that or something like that, however, every former WWE guy they have brought in has either been or fought for a world title right out of the gate, that doesn’t paint the picture they expressed previously. Christian Cage just got here, he hasn’t had a singles match of any kind in seven years, he shouldn’t even be looking in the direction of the world champion especially with a ranking system in place and him not even having a match yet. In the simplest of terms is that is wrong, and I’m talking about this long form because it needs to be addressed, this is not a good idea at all. The perfect thing to do with Christian Cage to start out his AEW run was for him to have a disagreement with a lower level talent like a Max Caster or a Peter Avalon, and worked his way up the card to prove he’s back. It’s simple.
Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, & Maki Itoh vs. Thunder Rosa, Ryo Mizunami, & Hikaru Shida
This match started off very bad, Maki Itoh was making her entrance after everyone else had entered and she is singing as she does, and she actually sang her whole song while the others brawled (Rebel included even though she’s claiming to be hurt to get out of these matches). Then after she finished singing Hikaru Shida would go after her on the stage, and and Maki would hit her with very light microphone shots. There’s a lot of back and forth action in this one and all these women are very good at what they do, as the match picked up it got better.
The highlight of the match is when Rosa and Baker face off. They were trading hard shots and eventually throws Baker outside and everyone else is outside brawling and Rosa jumps from the top to the outside on to the pile with a corkscrew. Itoh becomes legal and Rosa brings her back in and Vickie grabs her foot, Itoh gets back in and takes control but Rosa turns it around and hits the Thunder Driver for the pin fall victory. The ending sequence was good and I enjoyed that a lot.
After the match Britt attacked Rosa and put her in the lock jaw to end the segment. They announced next week in the main event of Dynamite that Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker will face one more time in a lights out unsanctioned match which should be a hell of a match.
Segment Rating: 5.5/10
This match got better as it went on but it started off badly. Maki Itoh especially needs to adjust to the American way of doing things but she has the potential be a top star in AEW if she stays for a long time. Britt Baker is the star of this division and that was make very clear by the fact that Hikaru Shida was barely featured in this match. The match next week is going to be great and should be a number one contender match where the winner (hopefully Baker) faces Shida and beats her for the belt. This needs to be the end of Baker versus Rosa though. This will also be the first women’s main event in AEW so hopefully it delivers.
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. Scorpio Sky
This was a hell of a match, these two worked really well together and didn’t miss a step throughout the match. Scorpio Sky proved how good he is in this match and earned his spot as a singles star here for sure. Darby Allin is always good and I was glad he didn’t do anything too crazy in this match after selling injuries from the Revolution match which was the right thing to do and it told a better story in this match. Sky did such a great job of working over Darby and targeting his injuries as well. My favorite spot of the entire match and it was beautiful, Scorpio is outside and Darby goes for a dive outside and Scorpio catches him into a cutter on the outside. It was amazing spot and I loved it.
Scorpio would follow this up with a pin fall attempt for a near fall then hit a nice looking fisherman’s buster for another near fall. Darby takes control and goes for a Coffin Drop but is caught into a sit-out powerbomb for another great spot, and then sets up for the TKO but Darby turns it into a small package for the pin and the win.
Post math, Darby shows respect by patting Scorpio on the back but Scorpio responds by tripping Darby and putting him into a heel hook. Referee’s broke it up and Scorpio looked at his hand like what he did felt wrong but then he smiles to end the segment.
Segment Rating: 7.25/10
This was an amazing match and as mentioned made Scorpio Sky for me, I’m happy he’s getting a shot to be a heel and I hope if it’s addressed within SCU they acknowledge it as like “we get it your frustrated, we’ve been there, do your thing.” and they leave it at that. Darby did a great job of selling his injuries from the pay-per-view and Sky did a great job of targeting those injuries and the heel hook after the match was a great touch and I hope he starts doing that as a finish going forward. I also hope this continues as a feud because Darby feuding with Team Taz for like nine months was ridiculous and it’s time for something new and different for him. I hope that moving forward Scorpio continues to get better presenting his character as he is in the ring because he certainly deserves it.
Inner Circle War Council
So I kind of had an idea where this was going when it was announced, and we all saw it coming. The Inner Circle comes out and Jericho discusses how they might need new members to turn this around, MJF intervenes and says he thinks the opposite that it might be time to kick someone out. Which immediately brings out Sammy Guevara, and he tells Jericho to watch a tape he recorded. Jericho doesn’t want to hear it but Guevara insists.
I loved this aspect of the story being told. Guevara is seen in the Inner Circle’s locker room and he places a camera in there. We see Santana, Ortiz, and Hager sitting in there and MJF walks in and and asks if they are ready for tonight and says point blank it’s time to cut off the head of Chris Jericho. So they made us believe this was Inner Circle turning on Jericho and only Sammy Guevara could help him against the other four, then when they are looking at Jericho they turn around and all target MJF.
MJF immediately cowers in the corner and tries to get out of it, and Jericho tells him to shut up and says you think we don’t talk to each other, you think we didn’t realize what you were doing. Jericho says it’s time for you to receive an old school Inner Circle beatdown. I loved that they made sense of this and said you don’t think we talk outside of this immediately telling me they don’t think me the audience is stupid for assuming that because that’s how it should be. MJF says he doesn’t want to take over the Inner Circle and immediately changes his mood and says “because I was too busy building my own.” then the lights go out and when they come back on, FTR, Tully Blanchard, Wardlow, and Shawn Spears appear behind them and when Inner Circle turns around, and a brawl breaks out when Dash Harwood breaks a bottle over the head of Jake Hager.
I absolutely loved this set up so much and it wasn’t what I expected because I wanted this group for Cody not MJF. The brawl continues and Shawn Spears is swinging a chair and then stops Sammy’s face into it in the corner. FTR handcuffs Santana and Ortiz and beats them down then, Wardlow has Jericho in the corner and puts him on the top rope with his hand around his through and pulls him down and gives him a knee strike which was nasty looking. Then FTR set up Santana and Ortiz for spike piledrivers with Tully which they do while still handcuffed.
Then they pick up Jericho and MJF hits him in the head with the diamond ring, and Jericho reaches for his bat but MJF steps on his hand and Tully gives him the bat and hits Jericho in the face with it and knocks him out of the ring. FTR and Spears then carry Jericho up the ramp and Wardlow picks him up and powerbombs him off the stage through two tables to end the show as they all pose on the stage.
Segment Rating: 7.25/10
I loved everything about this. Sammy Guevara never really left the Inner Circle, this was the plan all along and then MJF swerved them by bring together his own group and everyone in it is perfect for the role. For a while and based on what happened at Revolution we expected a new Four Horsemen-esque group which we technically got here and I absolutely love it. My hope is this leads to that Blood and Guts match that we originally were supposed to get with Inner Circle and The Elite, now we can do it with Inner Circle and whatever the name of this MJF group is. I can’t wait for that to happen. This was just swerve after swerve and they all worked I can’t wait for what happens next.
Remarkable Wrestler of the Week
For this episode of AEW Dynamite, the Remarkable Wrestler of the Week is Scorpio Sky.
Scorpio Sky gets the RWOW because he had a hell of a match that was easily my favorite match of the night and then turned heel and showed some new much needed character that he needed and I can’t wait to see what happens with him next. It can only get better.
Overall
I wanted to completely hate on this show because at first I hated all the promo segments but It turned around for me for the most part. Overall I give this show a 6.1 out of 10. The wrestling on this show for the most part was great, that Kenny Omega segment explained away the Revolution explosions and that’s fine but I didn’t need the thing that followed it at all. The opener and the main event match both put on a show, and we got two stellar promo segments by Penta and the Inner Circle War Council. Loved this show when I wanted to hate it.
What are your thoughts on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @SLTDWrestling.
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