Tag team wrestling goes loud and proud on Dynamite once again, as AEW puts forward a big money match for this episode, with The Young Bucks and Santana & Ortiz settling their rivalry in a Texas Street Fight. The Inner Circle has largely branched away from the initial conflict with The Elite, as the singles stars of both factions have moved on to other rivals, but these two duos have continued their guerrilla warfare throughout the opening months of Dynamite's history. Matt Jackson's kayfabe injury put the rivalry on ice for a couple weeks, but now the bad blood boils over in a match that provides both vengeance and opportunity. For the winners, a title shot against SCU next week awaits. Can Matt and Nick Jackson tame the fires of Santana & Ortiz, or will the duo of charismatic and devilishly violent Puerto Ricans reign supreme?
- AEW Dynamite #11 (airing December 11th, 2019) comes to you from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, just outside Dallas. Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone are on the call.
- Our opening contest is over in seconds, as Jon Moxley munches on Alex Reynolds, winning with a running knee strike and an elevated Paradigm Shift. This squash, plus a tag loss alongside John Silver on Dark, sets up a storyline with Reynolds for later in the episode, which I'll get to, but it also emphasizes how ridiculously strong Moxley is being booked right now. That's essential for the promo that follows, as Chris Jericho, accompanied by the rest of The Inner Circle, delivers an impassioned plea to Moxley to join his group. This less rambunctious side of Jericho felt fresh after the theatrics we've seen of him on the mic recently, and the history between he and Mox that was dug into gave this an authentic air. Ultimately, I will ding AEW for moving too slowly on the Jericho/Moxley program; it remains frustrating how little aggression we're getting, and the ploy to add Moxley to The IC is obvious filler, I don't think there's a single fan gullible enough to believe that's the direction his character is headed in. I did appreciate the caution Jericho utilized to handling Moxley, that at least added to Mox's aura, even if we didn't see any physicality out of him.
- Cody offered MJF the chance to select a tag team partner for Rhodes going against The Butcher and The Blade, and the dubious honor goes to QT Marshall, immediately positioning Cody's buddy from ROH in a big underdog spot. Marshall does his best to meet the moment, and the Garland crowd is electric for the offense that he gets in. QT's handspring enzuigiri after being Irish whipped was solid, though his handspring body press to the floor, while garnering a huge pop, looked terrifying, and emphasized how far behind the rest of the roster he is athletically. MJF's hired goons get their first win after QT is rocked with a Stunner from The Blade, a big lariat from The Butcher, and the release suplex/backbreaker tandem from the pair. I don't think there's much potential for Butcher and Blade beyond being a capable midcard duo, and we clearly saw the limits of QT Marshall on this night, but even if this match was nothing special, it was carried on the back of excellent booking and the nuclear reactions Cody continues to receive. Afterward, the story continues to add layers, with Darby Allin helping Cody up, before a commercial break, then an in-ring promo with MJF. Friedman hits a Cross Rhodes on a security guard for laughing at Cody's criticism of MJF's usage of the move last week, becomes a standard high school jock, mocking aspects of Cody's face and disrespectfully using the famous Rhodes lisp, and declares that he has stipulations for a match between the two, which will be announce in Jacksonville on January 1st (an episode of Dynamite). Even though his delivery is still incredible, MJF has yet to feel like a true main event player to me since his heel turn. Working against Cody should've elevated him more than it has, but I'm at least excited to hear his stipulations, given I have some inkling of what's coming.
- As mentioned previous, there's more at play with Alex Reynolds, as a vignette shows him in a hotel room with a Dark Order recruiting message playing on the TV, which he then imagines is specifically addressing him and his failures. I love the fact that AEW is cognizant of how consistent losing would affect the psyche of some of their lesser characters (Michael Nakazawa was also shown to be receptive to The Dark Order's message on the last Being The Elite), giving those lower on the totem pole a chance to elevate their stock without the need for wins. It's not a shock, though, to learn that most audiences weren't as into this development at the time as I am now; wrestling fans aren't revered for patience, and I can totally see how disappointing it might feel to see all this time being spent on a group that is exclusively working with those in the mid- to lower-card. But through The Dark Order, AEW is giving these guys a direction and fleshing out the lore of the entire roster, which is so cool.
- The women's division in AEW will never cease to confound me. We get a sloppy, low-energy match between Big Swole and Emi Sakura; Swole continues to hit hard, but she's rough around the edges, and Sakura's Freddie Mercury knockoff gimmick hasn't caught on. Swole wins with her ripcord forearm, which is good for her, but if AEW is only going to allow the division one match a week, using more reliable talent like Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, or Riho would be a better option. Nobody is picking up momentum right now other than Nyla Rose, who was awesome as a destructive force of nature last week, but AEW sidelined her with a kayfabe suspension, leaving everyone else in limbo. It can't be this difficult to make women's wrestling a cohesive and entertaining product.
- "Hangman" Adam Page has gone through the ringer thus far in AEW, falling short whenever the going gets tough, which has resulted in him growing distant from the rest of The Elite. But after failing to capture the Dynamite Dozen Ring, he's back working with his estranged friends, teaming with Kenny Omega in a win over Shawn Spears and Kip Sabian. There's a lot of moving parts here for a random midcard tag match; tension remains between Page and Omega (Page refuses a high-five after teaming with Omega to chop down Sabian, and blind tags in to hit the Buckshot Lariat on Sabian to get the win when Omega was cruising to victory), Omega has to consider the ominous warning of PAC, who declared that he wouldn't be held accountable for his actions if he wasn't granted a rubber match with Kenny, Kip despises Kenny after losing to "The Best Bout Machine" on Dark and his girlfriend, Penelope Ford, keeps running interference on his behalf, and Shawn Spears abandons the match to chase after Joey Janela, who turns the lights out to reveal that he kidnapped Tully Blanchard. The moving pieces are all significantly more important than the in-ring action, which was still entertaining, as you'd expect from an Omega match.
- In yet another confusing choice in the women's division, AEW has given more mic time to Brandi Rhodes after her disastrous performance last week, although at least she's been pre-taped this time around. Brandi has shifted from cultish to catty, which is odd, taking shots at Riho and Britt Baker for reasons that escape me. None of this is working.
- Sammy Guevara survives for a few minutes against Luchasaurus, bouncing around before being flattened with a Tail Whip and the Tombstone facebuster, a flat performance for the big dino even in victory, as he's lost much of the mobility that got him over earlier in the year following his return from injury. A brawl between The Inner Circle and The Jurassic Express then follows, with Jungle Boy getting a visual pinfall (counted by Marko Stunt) on Chris Jericho in advance of their match next week, which will have a 10 minute time limit. That should be a fun one.
- Main event time, as The Young Bucks and Santana & Ortiz destroy plenty of furniture in their Texas Street Fight. This was absolute anarchy, as all four men keep launching themselves through tables, and even their closest allies take a share of the punishment, as Brandon Cutler is powerbombed through part of the stage, and Sammy Guevara eats the steel ramp courtesy of a assisted spike piledriver from the Bucks. Matt gets a massive pop for wearing a Cowboys helmet, and Aubrey Edwards gets in on the fun, running in after a ref bump for a big near fall on the More Bang For Your Buck, getting a big pop for her charge. She's also involved in another wild near fall later, as Matt takes the Street Sweeper on a trash can, only for Edwards' count to be stopped by Nick, who drags her out of the ring in pure desperation. After the littany of table bumps, it's the usage of chairs that grants the winning edge to the Bucks, as Ortiz takes a nasty running bulldog onto a quartet of upright chairs, before being left in a heap with a Meltzer Driver onto a pile of chairs. This was another great Young Bucks hardcore match to add to the portfolio, though a bit repetitive at times with all of the table bumps, and there wasn't one moment that truly stood out to me. We're now confirmed to see the Bucks take on SCU for the tag titles next week, which is shaping up to be a loaded card, with this match, Jericho/Jungle Boy, and an announced number one contender's match between Kris Statlander and Britt Baker.
7/10
The weirdness of the women's division knocked this one down a peg or two for me, as it was, for the most part, another great weekly showcase for the best of AEW's story-telling. There's so much happening up and down the card, which is wonderful, though the wrestling was largely forgettable with this Dynamite.
- Henry
Comments