The final Dynamite of 2019 takes place with almost half the month of December still left, as the following week's edition (which would be on Christmas Day) was cancelled. Facing a two-week layoff, the card was stacked for the ending to AEW's maiden year, headlined by a tag title match. SCU are in serious jeopardy of being overshadowed while champions, as the previous week's Texas Street Fight blew everything Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian have been involved in out of the water. They haven't had much of a narrative as title holders anyway, as weeks were spent bigging up Sky's quarrel with Chris Jericho, while Matt and Nick Jackson remained steadfast as the most popular babyfaces of the division. Pitting SCU against The Young Bucks has the potential to revitalize interest in Sky and Kaz's title reign, plus end out 2019 with one more tag team showstopper.
- AEW Dynamite #12 (airing December 18th, 2019) comes to you from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, a venue tied to a deeply unfortunate moment in professional wrestling history, as it hosted the WWE Monday Night Raw episode dedicated to the memory of Chris Benoit, a telecast that has been understandably wiped from WWE's catalogue. I mention that not to bring down the mood, but to emphasize it as part of the ethos of AEW; to re-ignite the passion that had gone out for many after years of stagnation, and cleans the wrestling soul by starting a new chapter with a clean slate. Despite all of faults that I've picked out in AEW's programming throughout the year, they have truly captured attention in a way I never thought possible, and this night is yet another showcase of what the promotion can bring to the table, good and bad.
- Our opening contest is a doozy, as Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page join forces once more to battle The Lucha Brothers. Given the talent in the ring, it's no surprise that this astounded when it got going, and the final few minutes were a blur of action, highlighted by an electric Page hot tag, as he tossed fools around and winded himself with a cavalcade of dives to the outside. Page has brought a number of excellent performances to the table already, but it really feels like he's coming into his own right now, as his reluctance to work with Omega, and a new wrinkle of excessive drinking on BTE, are laying the foundation for AEW's greatest character arc. It's absolutely perfect that Page, coming off the high of last week's win, costs his team the match here, accidentally nailing Omega with the Buckshot Lariat, which sets up Zero Mercy from Penta and Fenix. Omega and Page squabble over the finish for a second or two, before PAC interrupts, informing Omega of the consequences for not getting a rubber match, which is PAC creepily shutting himself in Michael Nakazawa's locker room. Omega gets backstage to discover the room completely empty, before the Lucha Bros get a few more licks in for good measure. I will say that, despite beating two of the biggest babyfaces on the roster clean, Fenix and Penta are afterthoughts in this saga, but Page's inner crisis is immediately compelling, and I'm all in on getting another PAC/Omega match, so this half-hour served it's purpose well.
- The Butcher shines brightly on Dynamite this week, as the burly hoss and his partner, The Blade, continue their war with Cody Rhodes, who combines forces with Darby Allin this time around. It's a definite step up in match quality swapping QT Marshall out for Darby, who is excellent, along with Cody, in feeding for AEW's newest monster. Butcher is a force of nature, showcasing athleticism and brutish power in equal measure; my favorite spot was him overpowering Cody while applying a Cloverleaf, dragging the younger Rhodes around with ease. That's the type of simplistic story-telling that AEW excels at, though we also get some of the wild high-flying in this one; Butcher lands an elevated guillotine legdrop, Cody and Darby soar on simultaneous topes, Darby sacrifices his body for a Coffin Drop to Butcher on the apron, and Cody puts The Blade down with a flying cutter out of the corner. Butcher and Blade still feel like a middle of the road act punching well above their weight as part of the Cody/MJF conflict, but at least they can excel in the role.
- Awesome Kong's first match on Dynamite ends quickly, as she trounces Miranda Alize in under a minute, reminding me of me of why she has that first name. The spinning backfist still connects like a Mack truck, more wrestlers should be using it. It is telling that even this impressive destruction fails to illicit any reaction from the Corpus Christi crowd. Brandi and the Nightmare Collective are just that miserable to sit though.
- Thanks to the verbal confrontation two weeks ago, Jungle Boy has gotten the opportunity of a lifetime, wrestling AEW World Champion Chris Jericho on national TV, and all he has to do is last 10 minutes with the champ for a technical "win". Jungle Boy has been an understated but enjoyable character in his brief stints on AEW thus far, and he demonstrates a bit of his mammoth potential in this big spot, stepping up to battle back after being rocked by two Codebreakers early on. That fiery comeback from Jungle Boy, with three dazzling dives and a sick diving spike DDT, that's the kind of stuff that turns naive kids into effing superstars. Jericho takes back control as the limit nears it's conclusion, and AEW piles on sympathy for the young Jack Perry, who perseveres through to the buzzer while trapped in the Walls of Jericho. What follows is somewhat messy, as Jericho demands an extension of the time limit because he thinks he has it in the bag, only for Jungle Boy to rally and score two near falls on a hurricanrana cradle and crucifix hold, leading to Jericho grabbing his title and stalking out, with Excalibur doubling back later to say that it officially ended in a draw. There could've been room for something more conclusive in there, and ending a match twice while mixing in a supposed restart probably should have been avoided, but the intention was there, and Jericho's starpower was yet again utilized expertly to elevate the potential diamonds lower down on the card.
- Britt Baker has her finest performance in AEW to date, keeping up with Kris Statlander in a solid number one contender's bout. Both women have natural chemistry, effortlessly trading takedowns and counters. Statlander's offensive array is dazzling once again, peppering Baker with vicious strikes, flying on her reliable missile dropkick, and winning it with an impressive feat of strength, lifting Britt off the mat while the former fought to apply the Lockjaw, manipulating Britt into place for the Big Bang Theory to put Baker to sleep. I will say, for as game-changing as Statlander has been in the ring, her persona as an an actual, honest to God, alien life form is too far outside the box for me, it's too tonally distant from the rest of the roster, which is the same complaint I have with Luchasaurus. Statlander's character quirk of booping people on the nose as a form of communication does lend to a decent pop for her then giving Brandi the Dikembe Mutumbo finger wag, so it can click occasionally, although the crowd immediately dies when Brandi gets the upper hand by ramming Statlander with the spike of her high heel. Enough with the division revolving around Brandi, already, these performers are all leagues ahead of her and should be working with each other, rather than wasting time with her.
- Main event time, as Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian successfully defend the gold against The Young Bucks in a capable show closer. These guys are long-time friends, all having begun their careers in the SoCal area, and hit the ground running with a blistering pace. At every turn, all four men are on top of their game and out-thinking their opponents. Kaz catches the Bucks unaware, kipping up to take them down with a double lariat; Matt counters Sky's TKO by landing on his feet, then charging in for a Spear; Sky and Kaz each trap a Buck in the Dragon Sleeper, only for Nick to power out and toss Kaz into Sky in a burst of adrenaline; finally, SCU are able to close it out in emphatic fashion, as Nick is dumped by Kaz' high-angle German suplex, and Matt gets his spine and neck compresses after a DDT on the apron and the SCU Later. It's all entertaining and an easy watch at just 10 minutes, but it's that abbreviated time, and what comes after it, that make this main event largely superfluous.
- Yes, in what was really their first time at it, AEW ends Dynamite with a major angle, not a match, as The Dark Order make their presence felt to close the night. This is something of an infamous few minutes, as after Evil Uno sets his creepers on both SCU and the Bucks, replays later catch one of the faceless men feverishly punching thin air. That's something of a sore spot for AEW, but the beatdown itself was alright when you're not checking every angle for elements of kayfabe breaking. It was nice to see Alex Reynolds and John Silver get a spotlight, officially joining Uno and Grayson, donning their new masks after every member of The Elite has been fended off, and the visual of the group chanting in unison over Matt Jackson's unconscious body as Dynamite goes off the air was striking. I've never gotten so many of the complaints surrounding The Dark Order through their initial few moments; the aesthetic is wonderfully dark, Uno cuts his sinister promos well, and Grayson is an underrated powerhouse. The vignettes digging into the mythos of the group are some of AEW's best production, but I can see where there may have been some confusion over their spot on the card. The Dark Order had only been messing around with no-names to this point, and while it fits with their credence of molding the downtrodden into brainwashed soldiers, there needed to be a bigger name involved to put the audience on notice. Luckily, there would soon be one on his way...
8/10
Outside the black eye of those phantom punches, this was a return to form for Dynamite after something of a cold spell recently. All three tag matches excelled, Jungle Boy captured a few hearts battling Jericho, and Kris Statlander continued to impress. 2019 ends in another hectic night for AEW, who now sets their sights on the beginning of a new decade.
- Henry
Comments