One aspect of the product that AEW has a gigantic edge over WWE in the long form story-telling, as the new company has remained committed to the concept that just about every segment and every match that you see on TV will be setting up an important plot point for a later date. Nothing is done in service of a singular cheap pop, it's all meticulously planned, sometimes months or years in advance. On the very first episode of Dynamite, AEW chose to broadcast what seemed like a complete throwaway of a segment, as the Lucha Brothers and SoCal Uncensored exchanged some trash talk, ostensibly to preview the upcoming tag team tournament. There was no reason to suspect that AEW had a greater purpose with these few minutes of airtime, and with many other wrestling promotions, it would've stayed as filler, an entertaining interaction between two teams that could be referenced at a later date. But the Lucha Bros and SCU weren't just filling time on that night; they were setting up the finals of that tournament, a full month ahead of time with very few fans catching on to the fact that Tony Khan had given away his booking plans right off the bat. Both teams now aren't just fighting for tag team gold, they have a very legitimate beef, with Christopher Daniels sidelined, and Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian closing in on their glorious revenge, in addition to the opportunity to shine in the main event of Dynamite. That show closing spot has been reserved for big name main eventers thus far in AEW's history, but thanks to the tension already built between these two teams, plus the stakes involved in their collision, this match feels befitting of that spotlight. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky may never have a better chance at payback than on this night, but to avenge their fallen comrade, these must go through those two cocky, vicious, and uber talented Mexican renegades.
- AEW Dynamite #5 comes to you from the Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia, the promotion's first trip back to the South after touring the Northeast for episodes of Dynamite. Jim Ross and Excalibur start the night on the call, joined by Tony Schiavone about midway through the night, as Tony's busy during the first hour, preparing Cody for his contract signing (more on that later).
- Our opening contest is a showcase for "Hangman" Adam Page, as he barrels his way through Sammy Guevara of the Inner Circle, a small piece of the on-going conflict between the new faction and Page's Elite buddies. Sammy's displays of arrogance were entertaining, filming part of his vlog before the bell rang, squatting with Page on his shoulder before delivering a Samoan Drop, and soaking up heat by casually slapping Page in the face. That fires up the Virginian cowboy, and he makes Guevara pay for his blaise attitude, smashing Sammy's back off the apron with a brutal modified sidewalk slam, and finishing the youngster off with the Buckshot Lariat. Page then takes to the mic to declare that he'll do some real cowboy sh** at Full Gear, when he takes Pac's head off with another of those deadly lariats. This was everything it needed to be to present Page's bubbling anger and relentless drive, though Sammy getting slaughtered like this does little to help his stock.
- For whatever reason, the women's title scene is completely ignored on this show, as we instead get a random Hikaru Shida match, followed by a vignette showcasing Brandi Rhodes, neither of whom have anything to do with Riho right now. Shida's win over Portuguese veteran Shanna was one of the better singles match in the division thus far, as both women were highly competitive and came up with several inventive spots. Shida's jumping knee off a chair was a highlight, and I loved the impact Shanna got on her Tree of Woe double foot stomp. Shida lands an impressive deadlift suplex off the apron, and a fluid sequence of pinfall attempts, the kendo stick aficionado wins it with a big knee strike to a seated Shanna. Afterwards, Excalibur throws to the aforementioned Brandi vignette, which goes for all the stereotypical supernatural gimmicks, as they show images of skulls, Brandi wearing green eye contacts, and Brandi screams for a bit before donning a black veil. The ambiguity of Brandi's new direction is intended to be intriguing, but without any clarification on what exactly is happening to her, it's clear that the crowd simply doesn't care. I think this might've been a bit too arthouse for the room.
- The folks in Charleston can easily comprehend what's happening in the next segment, as Santana and Ortiz ruthlessly attack Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, who were making a guest appearance to pop the crowd. Morton, the crazy old coot, elects to take a dual powerbomb through part of the stage, a heck of a bump from a 60+ year old and a damn good way to put the crazed enforcers of the tag team division over. Naturally, the Young Bucks run in to chase their Full Gear opponents off, which also sets up the possibility of a future bit between the Bucks and the Express, two teams carved from the same neon-colored cloth that I'd be intrigued to see interact.
- Rick and Morty branding is all over this show, with the turnbuckles decked out in references to the show and the front few rows of the crowd a sea of Rick and Morty masks, and with the show taking place a night before Halloween, it only makes sense for someone to play dress up to complete the cross-promotion. That task falls to the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy, who turn up in wigs and lab coats, before picking up an easy win in six man tag action against John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and QT Marshall. Chuck and Trent run through their standard tag team fare, while QT gets the cheap heat for stopping their hug, leading to Orange getting involved, earning a few of the biggest pops of the night for his no-hands needed kip-up, dropkick, and tope suicida. Silver goes down in short order to the Strong Zero, though he at least got in a few charging corner attacks early in the match, some shine before taking the fall.
- The contract signing is one of wrestling's most tenured tropes, and I don't know if this is much of a hot take, but I've never seen a good incarnation of one, and I've watched dozens of them. Cody and Jericho's version was as dull as the rest, save for Jericho mispronouncing Shiavone's name and calling the audience "entitled millennial jacka**es". That was fun, but his mind games with Cody didn't build any personal heat between the two, as that job instead falls to Jake Hager, who assaults Dustin in the parking lot. Dustin getting his head slammed off the limo Cody arrived in was clever on the part of the Inner Circle, but this didn't do much to make me anticipate the Full Gear title match. It certainly wasn't helped by the amount of time wasted during the first hour of the show on Shiavone and Cody's trip to the Coliseum, which provided almost nothing of entertainment value.
- Massive video game nerd Kenny Omega was not about to miss an opportunity to make gaming references, as he designs an elaborate entrance based on Undertale, with graphics heavily invocative of the game, a pun about a sock, and Kenny making his way to the ring dressed as Sans as "Megalovania" blares in the background. Kenny and the Young Bucks then put on a show in another of their great six man spotfests, this time defeating the supremely athletic trio of Kip Sabian, Jack Evans, and Angelico. Evans has a terrific showing in this one, bouncing all over the place and causing my jaw to drop on an awesome handspring cartwheel dive to the outside. Evans topped himself later on with a ridiculous moonsault, leaping off the back of Matt Jackson, before he gets caught attempting one more dive, springing into a triple superkick. Evans is finished off by Omega, who looked every bit the main event star during the match, especially in his triple snap Dragon suplex spot, as he positions himself for his showdown with Jox Moxley at Full Gear.
- Speaking of the unhinged Moxley, he's even further off the rocker than normal, driven literally spitting mad after his time limit draw with Pac last week, plus hearing the news from Tony Khan that the Omega match will be unsanctioned. Moxley turns up to plant Peter Avalon with the Paradigm shift, ranting about the "suits" at TNT who want to put him in a box, telling them to kiss his a**. It's a brilliant piece of character work from a man that sells eminent and unpredictable rage better than just about anyone, and considering what we've heard from Moxley about his time in WWE, this fury of emotion towards the corporate stooges is definitely drenched in reality.
- Main event time, as the first AEW World Tag Team Champions are crowned, with SCU and the Lucha Bros fighting to earn that honor. As always, Fenix and Penta are on-point with their striking, working over Kaz with a double superkick and Fenix's tightrope running punt kick, before Kaz is able to cut them off with a big double lariat, assisted by Sky, who gives his veteran partner an extra flip. Excalibur puts over the nastier side of the Lucha Bros when Fenix re-takes control by gouging Kaz's eyes, and is also quick to note the importance of Frankie using the Angel's Wings to get breathing room. Sky's hot tag is brilliant as ever, but this match comes dangerously close to falling off the wheels when Kaz takes an ugly fall on his hurricanrana to the floor. Fortunately, Frankie was able to get through the remainder of his spots, even recovering to take a huge running powerbomb through an outside table by Penta. That move seemed to set the stage for an inevitable Lucha Bros win, as they have Sky dead to rights following a huge splash from Fenix, who was perched atop his brother's shoulders. Sky is about to become yet another victim of Zero Mercy, with Fenix on the top rope, ready to deliver the dagger, when lighting strikes. Sky rolls Penta to the canvas with an inside cradle, and Fenix can't get off the top in time to break up the cover, as Dynamite closes with a stunning upset. Giving the win, and the honor of being the first AEW tag champions, to SCU is a solid choice, as Sky and Kazarian are dependable veterans with charisma to spare, but ending this tournament in such a fluky fashion was a surprise, to say the least. I would guess that Tony Khan is going somewhere with this finish; I just have no idea where exactly that is.
6/10
This was the weakest episode of Dynamite in the show's short run, as outside of a couple decent matches, the bulk of these two hours was completely skippable. The lack of progression in the women's title scene, underwhelming end to the main event, dull contract signing, and overall muted crowd were all major negatives, and it's rare that I have that many complaints for an AEW production. Hopefully, they can bounce back next week for the Full Gear go-home show.
- Henry
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