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, May 12th edition of AEW Dynamite.
IWGP United States Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
Dynamite kicked of with an amazing match, for the first time ever an New Japan Pro Wrestling championship was defending under the AEW banner since the beginning of their partnership. It immediately felt like a big fight feel with the walk out entrances and Jon Moxley coming out to “Wild Thing” by The Troggs which was done in tribute to the greatest deathmatch wrestler of all time Atsushi Onita. No idea if that is his music going forward or if it’s just for tonight but it works for Moxley big time. The match itself was hard hitting, it was great action, it was an example of how good Jon Moxley is because he can have any style of match and make it look good. Nagata hasn’t lost a step at all and apparently he wants to wrestle until he’s 70, I say if he can stay healthy enough to do it go for it. The result was no surprise at all but this match is totally worth the watch for the hard hitting nature, the one-upmanship throughout and the non stop momentum of the action all the way to the abrupt ending that actually helped the match. Moxley would get the win following the Paradigm Shift.
Segment Rating: 7/10
I can’t express how much I love this match, it is a prime example of how to make a championship match mean something and make people care about both competitors. I hope as things continue to open up we are able to get more of these matches in AEW and see bigger NJPW names in AEW down the line. Also the nostalgia of Yuji Nagata being on TNT for the first time since 1997 is very cool.
Cody Rhodes Double or Nothing Announcement
Cody comes out for a promo to discuss what he will be doing at Double or Nothing, he starts off basically doing a monologue about America, and talking about how he’s always been proud to be an American. He addresses Anthony Ogogo and discusses how he is afforded the right to work in America, and that he doesn’t want to disgrace anyone from the UK, and credits Doug Williams, Gabriel Kidd, and PAC as people from the UK whom he’s had the pleasure to share a ring with and respects them. Then he quotes a Willie Nelson song and discusses how one of the greatest Champions in the history of the business was an Italian Immigrant (Bruno Sammartino) who once held a championship representing an American promotion for nearly eight years. He talks about how Georgia was once a slave State, but now in 2021 he gets to bring a mixed race baby girl into the world with Brandi and her to have the rights she deserves. He talks about Ogogo draping the Union Jack over his body but Cody didn’t stay down he got back up, and he challenges Ogogo to a match at Double or Nothing, but he won’t be facing “The American Nightmare”, for one night only you can call Cody, “The American Dream”.
Segment Rating: 6/10
Okay so this is a hell of a promo by Cody, but I really think the evil “foreigner” deal is really outdated and not really something we should be doing in 2021. Now I get it, its an old school wrestling trope and Cody very apparently loves those. I just don’t think it’s necessary anymore, why does this have to be the reason for this match? Why does this have to be a reason for any match in 2021? Especially since Ogogo is in a stable with all Americans. This will obviously be a test for Ogogo as he’s never had a big match on a big stage, and if he can’t have a solid ten minute match with Cody maybe he isn’t who they think he is. Regardless of that Cody’s delivery is perfect and he can never have a bad promo even when I disagree with the subject matter.
AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) vs. SCU (Kazarian & Christopher Daniels)
This match was full on story telling. We all knew where this was going but the way we got there was just so good. A lot great back and forth action, and SCU turned on early and they were really on. They weren’t letting The Young Bucks out of the box at all at first. The Young Bucks however would turn it around and turn it around in a big way, and never really get it back. SCU showed signs, but Daniels gets busted open bad, and that played a factor in his performance towards the end and helped the story of the match. There was a spot where Daniels covered in blood went for the BME and he slipped and I couldn’t tell if that was planned or not but part of me felt like it wasn’t since he did it again and he hit it for a near fall, but that helped the story in my opinion big time. Also playing up the price of the Young Bucks shoes and how Daniels bleeds on them and they got the shot perfectly, another thing that was such a great touch. Matt Jackson mocked Ric Flair/Shawn Michaels “I’m sorry I love you” superkick but it wasn’t the end of the match. The ending was a great touch as well, Kazarian is on the the ramp after The Bucks hit the BTE Trigger on Daniels and he’s almost in shock but rememberes he needs to break the pin but doesn’t get there in time. SCU is no more.
Now to the problem I had with this. SCU has been teaming for over ten years this should be a huge deal, they are breaking up forever, but instead, we cut backstage to Moxley and Kingston going into The Elite’s locker room and “trashing” it, but not really. They threw some clothes around and flipped a table, not a lot there to act like this was a huge thing to cut away from the moment of SCU breaking up. They showed SCU embracing in a replay but that was a bigger deal then the locker room trashing.
Later, The Young Bucks were upset about their locker room being trashed so they challenged Moxley and Kingston to a match at Double or Nothing which we all expected would happen. We don’t know if it will be for the titles, but The Bucks will be defending the belts next week against the Varsity Blonds which makes sense since they been winning a lot of matches on Dark.
Segment Rating: 6.5/10
So this match as a whole was great, the story telling in it was great. They really need to fix the timing of some of these things, I don’t think we needed to cut away from the SCU embrace to go to The Elite’s locker room being trashed, that needs to be done better. As I mentioned we all saw The Bucks versus Moxley and Kingston coming if that’s for the titles is up in the air but it would be fine because Moxley and Kinston have won a bunch as a team and have basically earned it. We’ll see what happens to get to it.
AEW Eliminator Match: Orange Cassidy vs. PAC
It really sucks when you get super excited for a match that you fully expect to be better then the previous and something happens that unfortunately prevents that from happening. They were having a good match for the first part of it and felt like a match they would have, until PAC hit this stacked up Liger Bomb, after he hit it Orange stayed down and it seemed like he was hurt and they were going to call the match, but they didn’t apparently he asked them not to do that, after a commercial which had much of nothing because of Cassidy supposedly being hurt, Don Callis comes out and causes a distraction to bring out Kenny Omega, who hit’s PAC with the championship, so we get a double count out in the ring.
After the match Kenny and Don Callis are gloating that there’s no winner so Kenny has Double or Nothing off, but Tony Schiavone interrupts and tells them that it will be a triple threat which they are not happy about.
Segment Rating: 4/10
There was reports that this was not the planned finish but was the planned result. They were supposed to go to a time-limit draw, which would have still given us a triple threat regardless but, hopefully Orange Cassidy is okay after that Liger Bomb, PAC seemed distraught about it, they called an audible with the distraction which is not great but they had to do something to get the same result they wanted. The rating is not really for the match but for the alternative ending that I don’t love.
The Pinnacle Coronation
So The Pinnacle comes out to celebrate their victory in the Blood and Guts match from last week, MJF is wearing a crown and a pink suit and has a lady on each arm. They had some Jaguars Cheerleaders dressed nicely accompany them to the ring to celebrate. MJF talks about how he’s the demo god now and AEW was the number one television show last week because of him. He also says that Shawn Spears was the Canadian hero of the match last week and that Santana is in prison for stabbing him with a fork last week and that we are never going to see Chris Jericho ever again. Tully goes on this long passionate rant about The Pinnacle and puts them over big for winning and presents them all with expensive watches to celebrate, and The Pinnacle is all about being on top.
Then they hear a horn blaring throughout the arena, it’s Hager, Ortiz, and Guevara who has a big hose on the back, MJF says that this is a joke and that Jericho is not coming back, but then Jericho emerges from the back and asks for a rematch against The Pinnacle, MJF says no (of course) and Jericho says are you sure, and MJF reaffirms, so they turn the hose on and Sammy sprays The Pinnacle with A Little Bit of the Bubbly, and drenches them and the ring. MJF yells for them to stop and says they can have their match and it’s gonna be at Double or Nothing in a Stadium Stampede match, but it will only happen if the Inner Circle agrees to break up for good if they lose.
Segment Rating: 5/10
I didn’t love this, I didn’t love how Jericho is back one week after being thrown off the cage, I didn’t love how they announced the rematch one week after the Blood and Guts match. A lot of this could have been held off to the go-home show, and Jericho shouldn’t have come back until then or even until the pay-per-view, that would have sold it better for me and I think the card is already stacked enough the point where we didn’t need to announce this match now. I honestly think The Inner Circle will lose that match because it’s time, it’s time for the respective members to move on and do something new. So we’ll see how it plays out.
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. Miro
Darby did a great recorded promo about being prepared for this match despite being attacked last week, because he’s a fighting champion and he’s ready for Miro and calls Miro a “generic son of a b*tch”. Miro attacks Darby during his entrance and beats him up throughout before the match even starts. The ref is trying to get Miro to stop after the beating and Miro is screaming for the bell to be rung and Darby of course still wants to go. The majority of the match is Miro in control and really beating Darby up bad. Darby starts to fight back and hits two stunners in a row and goes for the Coffin Drop, but Miro catches him in a waste lock from a laying position and takes control back and turns it into his Game Over submission for the victory. After the match, Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page attack Sting again, and as Miro is celebrating Lance Archer comes out and wants to get a piece of Miro but Jake Roberts is holding him back so that match will probably be happening soon.
Segment Rating: 5.75/10
I enjoyed this match for what it was, and it went pretty much exactly how I expected, part of me thinks that they changed this up a little because of the Orange Cassidy situation. Either way it was good and it put over Miro as a monster. Darby has a reason to be pissed now especially since the attack before the match and the injuries from last weeks attack, he has a gripe with Sky and Page, and Miro and I’m looking forward to how this all plays out.
Remarkable Wrestler of the Week
For this episode of AEW Dynamite, the Remarkable Wrestler of the Week is Jon Moxley.
Mox gets the RWOW this week for the stellar performance in the great match with Yuji Nagata. Moxley is on another level these days and he’s having fun having these once in a lifetime matches and it shows in his performances.
Overall
This was a good episode of AEW Dynamite, Overall I give it a 5.7 out of 10. A lot of great wrestling in this match as well some fine segments that could have been better or had better subject matter. There was some other segments not worth talking about that were fine, we got a Thunder Rosa squash match that almost ended badly, Hangman challenging Brian Cage to a rematch at Double or Nothing, no context to that really except Hangman wanting revenge, an amazing Britt Baker Promo that you should go out of your way to watch. So all around a good episode setting up a lot for the future which is what the show is supposed to do.
What are your thoughts on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @SLTDWrestling.
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