I've elected to take a break from reviewing WWE, possibly for a short time or possibly for a lot longer, in order to return to giving you some more All Elite Wrestling goodness. Today, we've got the very first episode of Dynamite on tap, as for the first time in two decades, TNT returns to the rasslin' business. There was a decent amount of build to Dynamite's inaugural episode, shocking to me after years of watching the WWE, who rarely spending time building hype for individual episodes of a TV show, and even better, no single match or segment completely dominated the airtime, all of them were given a chance to earn intrigue from the viewer. I'll go into more of the details of the build to each match as we get there, but I do need to mention how I'm watching this episode. Normally, the platform I'm watching on doesn't make a huge difference, as I'm just viewing a pay-per-view feed that has only minor alterations. However, I'm obviously not watching Dynamite anywhere close to live, this aired a year and a half ago, so instead, my viewing experience is the replay of the show on Bleacher Report Live. This is worth noting because BR Live does not air local commercials, so the feed stays with the actual event the entire time, which is a brand-new experience for me, as I've never attended a TV taping before. For the most part, there aren't any significant differences between this version and the live one (which I actually watched at the time, so I'm familiar with both feeds), but I will mention what I'm seeing during the breaks, since it might be interesting to read for anyone that only watched it live. Let's get to it, time for the debut of Dynamite!
- AEW Dynamite #1 comes to you from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. I've been here on this blog once before, for WWE's Backlash 2000, which was a rollicking atmosphere, and one of my favorite shows that I've ever watched. While the folks in attendance on this night weren't quite on the level of that one (it's tough for a start-up company to match the pop of a returning "Stone Cold" Steve Austin), this was still the same sort of ravenous audience that AEW always seems to be able to draw. Jim Ross, Excalibur, and the recently signed Tony Schiavone are on the call.
- Our opening contest sees Cody Rhodes square off with youngster Sammy Guevara, who has been one of the focal points of the build to this show. I love how much emphasis is put on what winning the first match in Dynamite's history, over an established star like Cody, would mean to Sammy, and the match is booked to be as even as possible, really putting Sammy over as a developing heel and incredible in-ring talent. Sammy gets the better of Cody early on, and showboats, then after Cody comes back to hit a standing cutter, Sammy does him one better, hitting a spingboard cutter for a near fall. Sammy, the sneakiest of heels, avoids a Cody dive by pulling Brandi into harm's way, but that backfires when Brandi pulls off her shoe and whacks Sammy in the head with it, giving Cody the chance to nail a Disaster Kick for a near fall. Cody hits a perfectly executed inverted superplex, but Sammy puts a stop to a top rope move from Cody, leaping to the top rope in a single bound, then delivering a gorgeous Spanish Fly. That doesn't do it, so Sammy looks for one more move off the top to put Cody away, which backfires when Cody counters and gets a small package for the win. A terrific match, with the crowd going nuts for everything, and Sammy coming out of it looking every bit the future champion AEW is clearly hoping he can be. After the match, Sammy offer a handshake to Cody, but before either man can truly show respect for the other, Chris Jericho attacks. The AEW World Champion is scheduled to defend at Full Gear against Cody, and looks to do as much damage to his future challenger as possible. Smartly, Sammy retreats like the absolute coward he is, a brilliant little piece of character development for him. Jericho nails a Codebreaker, and the show goes to break. Jericho then pops the live crowd by stealing a ringside camera to take a selfie with the beaten Cody, then powerbombs Cody into a contraption of chairs once Dynamite is back live.
- MJF's continued attempts to weasel his way into the Elite have gotten him into multiple confrontations with Brandon Cutler, longtime friend of the Young Bucks and a frequent target of verbal jabs by Friedman. The two square off in what could've been a promising match, but after less than 3 minutes, it reaches an unexpected conclusion when Friedman taps out Cutler with his Salt of the Earth armbar. If I have my stories straight, I believe Cutler suffered a potential injury after losing his footing on the top rope, likely making this an audible to avoid any additional danger. It sucks that the match did need to be called short, but at least the quick victory did make Friedman look a little more dangerous, backing up his big talk.
- We finally get the showdown between PAC and "Hangman" Adam Page on the opening episode of Dynamite, after their war of words was one of the focal points leading up to Double or Nothing, only for the match to be called for amongst rumors of backstage politicking. After waiting for this clash for so long, it wasn't quite to the level I was hoping for, especially during the extended periods where PAC was in control, as he was clearly just killing time through multiple ad breaks. When Page does get going, though, it is magnificent, as he cycles through his incredible offensive repertoire and brings the crowd to their feet. Between his great selling, endearing charm, and awe-inspiring move-set, it's clear that Page has all the makings of a true top babyface. On this night, though, PAC steals the win, nailing a low blow with referee Earl Hebner distracted, before putting Page away with the emphatic combo of the Black Arrow and the Brutalizer. PAC did spend a good portion of time working Page's arm, so it was nice to see that pay off with the finish, proving that AEW does know something about proper psychology.
- The first AEW Women's World Champion will be crowned up next, as Riho and Nyla Rose compete to earn that honor. Nyla battering smaller Joshis has been the highlight of the women's division in AEW thus far, so I was hoping for something special here, and I didn't quite get it. I mean, it was cool to see how excited the crowd were, popping big for even the simplest of moves and rallying behind both women, but I'm not sure that either competitor did a whole lot to prove that they were worthy of being in this position. That being said, Nyla did put in a good shift, showing off her power with a Samoan Drop and the Death Valley Driver, and her athleticism with the always impressive diving knee drop across the top rope. For Riho, though, this was far from her finest performance, whiffing on her signature double stomp early and failing to deliver much force on the series of running knee strikes that put Rose away. I'm also not really fully behind the decision to make Riho the inaugural champion, as besides the fact she was out-performed on this night, Rose is just a more interesting character and performer, and could present a much more ominous threat by being the first to lay claim to the gold. I guess AEW are trying to go for like a "flash knockout" kind of thing here, with Nyla going down in unexpected fashion to try and keep her strong, but I just didn't think it worked.
- Main event time, as Chris Jericho teams up with Santana & Ortiz (part of the second incarnation of Impact's Latin American Xchange) to battle Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. The Elite enter during a commercial break, and hype up the crowd by getting each section of the crowd to cheer in turn, some classic cheerleader behavior there. Would've loved to see Kenny break out the pom-poms, but I digress. Jericho and his boys get an assist early into the match, as Jon Moxley makes his return from the MRSA infection that put him on the shelf for All Out, immediately going right back after Omega. The two brawl up an aisleway in the crowd, where Kenny gets a big pop for mopping the floor (he's "The Cleaner", get it?), and then Moxley goes full CZW by hitting Omega with the Paradigm Shift through a glass table in the VIP lounge. That was an insane spot, thank goodness they were able to execute it safely, and Omega is now obviously out of the main event. The final commercial break of the night sees Jericho getting a mic to question why a hot dog has been chucked into the ring, while Ortiz and Santana batter Matt and Nick Jackson. When live action resumes, though, Nick gets the hot tag and goes nuts, tossing all three of his opponents around the ring before being caught in mid-air with a Codebreaker. The heels quickly take care of their business, as Nick is demolished by some double teaming from Ortiz and Santana, who then hold Matt in place to be laid to rest by Jericho and the Judas Effect. The trio hold court in the ring, look to dish out some more punishment, but both Cody and Dustin Rhodes look to put a stop to it. Sammy Guevara returns to officially cement his heel status by going after Cody, then Jake Hager (WWE's Jack Swagger, though the announcers focus on bigging up his accomplishments in Bellator) makes his AEW debut, laying out Dustin with a gutwrench powerbomb on a podium that the heels have brought into the ring. "We the People" chants break out, naturally, as Jericho and his new allies mug for the camera as Dynamite goes off the air. This wasn't the most action-packed main event that you'll ever see, but it did the work to establish Jericho's faction as a force to be reckoned with going forward, demolishing four of AEW's biggest names right out of the gate. I like the line-up of these five guys, all serving a different purpose in the group, and while Hager wasn't the biggest name to debut in this spot, I think he has just enough notoriety and presence that this didn't feel like a waste.
8/10
This wasn't a bad way for Dynamite to kick off, with a couple solid matches that did their job effectively and provided intriguing hooks to convince new viewers that AEW was worth following. The highlight for me was the opener, though there were no glaring weak spots throughout these two hours of wrestling. I didn't mention it in the review, but I also really enjoyed SCU's promo, with Scorpio Sky breaking out a solid Barack Obama impression, before the trio brawled with the Lucha Brothers. Outside of some technical difficulties, to be expected for a new company still stitching together a cohesive visual product, this was a solid debut for AEW on the national platform of TNT, and provided plenty of hope for where they could go as a promotion.
Next time on AEW Dynamite: "Hangman" Page and Dustin Rhodes team up to battle Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, as the past, present, and future of the industry collide. Plus, the tag title tournament kicks off, as the Young Bucks take on Private Party in what is sure to be a thriller. See you soon.
- Henry
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