Three months ago, AEW established Chicago as a spiritual home of their organization with All Out, as a jam-packed card was headlined by the crowning of AEW's first world champion, when Chris Jericho defeated "Hangman" Page to close out the night. Jericho felt he needed that win to establish that he was still at the top of his game, and in the weeks that followed, Jericho took a complete stranglehold at the top of the pile. He formed The Inner Circle, aligning with hot prospects Sammy Guevara, Ortiz, and Santana, as well as adding muscle in legit grappler Jake Hager, to control wrestling's past, present, and future. Page, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Dustin Rhodes, and others have remained thorns in Jericho's side, inevitably, they all fell to his veteran guile and array of finishers. But as AEW returns to Chicago for the first episode of Dynamite to air from the "Second City", Jericho's winning ways have been tested. Two weeks ago, he was pinned for the very first time, as emerging star Scorpio Sky got the better of AEW's biggest baddie, a mistake that Jericho feels needs to be rectified. In the process of doing so, however, Jericho has opened up a significant vulnerability, putting his title on the line, and now, another shocking three count would collapse the empire Jericho has built. Could Chicago witness the beginning and the end of "Le Champion"?
- AEW Dynamite #9 (airing November 27th, 2019) comes to you from the Sears Centre (now the NOW Arena) in the Hoffman Estates suburb of Chicago, Illinois, a venue that is already intrinsically tied into AEW history after hosting All In in 2018 and All Out earlier in 2019. Jim Ross and Excalibur are on the call, sans Tony Schiavone, who is on duty calling another Georgia Bulldogs game.
- Opening the night is Chris Jericho's "Thanksgiving" celebration, a clever pun, as it honors the "Thank you" that Jericho expects to receive from AEW management, and not the annual holiday, which is fresh in the mind as it would take place the following day. There's a ton of highlights from this segment, starting with the decor, which follows the usual Jericho bombast, featuring dancing costumed mascots surrounding the ring and a small marching band lining the ramp. Each member of the Inner Circle has a gift for Chris, and it's all super on-brand; Sammy has a cardboard cut-out of he and Jericho hugging, Santana and Ortiz hit up a bodega for a giftbasket full of random household accessories, and Jake Hager deadpan announces that he got Jericho a goat named "Chris Jeri-Goat", which would've been a lot funnier if the goat wasn't obviously terrified and unwilling to approach the ring. Jericho's father, former Rangers forward Ted Irvine, turns up to throw insults at the Blackhawks for all the cheap heat, which Jericho intensifies by attacking Justin Roberts for the ring announcer's ties to the local area and supposedly sarcastic tone while reading off Jericho's letter from AEW and TNT top brass. The perfect ending to these opening minutes is SCU running in after being disguised as band members to send Jericho and his cronies scurrying, setting the stage for the title match. This was about as good as it could've been, as Jericho's charisma and star power continues to elevate Ortiz, Santana, and Guevara, which is everything The Inner Circle was designed to do.
- The first action of the night continues a feud between the Lucha Bros and Best Friends, as Trent Beretta gets another win (he pinned Pentagon on the last episode of Dark) by dropping Rey Fenix on the back of his neck with the Crunchie. There wasn't much to this match, just a few well-timed superkicks by Fenix and a big dive each for Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy. AEW's tag team division is a mess of 50/50 booking right now, with teams trading meaningless wins all over the place, and no proper contenders being established, which is highly disappointing as there's so much talent in it.
- AEW's bad creative habits are also exhibited in yet another throw-together women's tag match, as this week, it's Bea Priestley and Emi Sakura teaming up to defeat Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander, with the latter taking the fall via a Sakura La Magistral Cradle. Statlander did have a few moments in this one, showing her athleticism, before the match devolves into a cavalcade of women hitting moves on each other. None of them have any tag team experience or chemistry, so there's no connective tissue here, it's just busy work until someone inevitable wins. There's gotta be a better use of your talent than this.
- Jon Moxley is stuck in quicksand, as he's back to deliver the same "I'm so dangerous, someone needs to fight me" promo that he's already covered before. He remains an intense presence, especially in that dingy hallway with the fence behind him, but it's frustrating to see him back to square one after the match with Darby.
- Cody Rhodes returns after being choked out by Wardlow on the Dynamite following Full Gear, and after the centerfold of the hype leading up to this episode, his actual involvement is a monumental disappointment. First, he squashes local competitor Matt Knicks for no rhyme or reason, then he's attacked in AEW's most random debut to date, as The Butcher and The Blader enter AEW through a hole in the mat to lay Cody out. Also, they've transformed Allie into The Bunny, eff it, why not, continuity doesn't need to be a thing if we don't want it to. Look, I'm not totally ignorant, all three have become staples of AEW's midcard, The Blade worked in TNA/Impact as Braxton Sutter, and is married to Allie, which explains her involvement. But this is all information I've gotten through either the benefit of hindsight or extensive knowledge of another promotion, and neither should be necessary. It's on AEW to provide a reason for the crowd to care about their debuts, and when you toss them out in front of a crowd who doesn't know who they are and has no reason to care, then you're sending them out to fail.
- Kenny Omega gets his long-awaited redemption from All Out, as he pins PAC with a crucifix hold and leg hook to even up their series. Both men are obviously capable of a lot more than they've shown us thus far, and peppered in a few tantalizing glimpses at what they could do. There were a couple wonderful strike exchanges, and PAC's avalanche Falcon Arrow was a thing of beauty. I always love when wrestlers build up on their history to demonstrate the evolution of a character, which Omega does here, avoiding the Black Arrow and catching PAC unawares by nailing the snap Dragon suplex after PAC escapes the Kotaro Krusher, just like he did three months ago. Having the finish not be decisive was the obvious choice, it's clear that there's still more to come from these two, but it was a letdown on a night where AEW was already massively underperforming.
- The Dynamite Diamond Ring find it's first pinky finger in our next contest, as MJF utilizes help from Wardlow to defeat "Hangman" Adam Page. This wasn't much of a competitive match, as Page trounced Friedman for several minutes, before Wardlow finally stepped in, placing Maxwell's foot on the bottom rope after a Buckshot Lariat. A big right paw from Wardlow knocked Page loopy, and MJF ended it with the world's worst Cross Rhodes in existence, a nice thought for a finish but the worst execution, as both men fell over each other in a painfully awkward display. MJF is presented with his new bling by Diamond Dallas Page, who resists the urge to confront Adam over his choice in last names, and instead exchanges some unpleasantries with Friedman, before security has to step in to separate he, MJF, and Wardlow. I do love me some DDP, he's one of my absolute favorites, but unless he's going to be emphatically trounced, I don't need to see him do anything with MJF and Wardlow, who have the potential to be way above feuding with the yoga dad.
- Before the main event, we get a couple more segments, as a Dustin Rhodes interview turns into yet another brawl between The Elite and The Inner Circle, and The Dark Order continue recruiting in their latest vignette. The whole Elite versus Inner Circle conflict is staler than six-month-old cereal, it's time to move on, and well I appreciate another glimpse at how The Dark Order deliver their message, I want to start seeing them interact with more wrestlers, rather than random members of the public, since this will inevitably have to play out between the ropes at some point.
- Main event time, as Scorpio Sky takes the opportunity to shine under the brightest spotlight possible, pushing Chris Jericho all the way to the limit in his pursuit of the AEW World title. Sky's graceful high-flying is always a treat, and the Chicago crowd were game for all the hints at a potential upset, popping huge for Sky's kickout of a belt shot after a Jake Hager distraction. Sky's leap into a hurricanrana was eye-popping, and the leads to an electric final few minutes. Jericho catches Sky in the air with a Codebreaker, Sky counters the Judas Effect into a backslide, then Jericho counters a step-up enzuigiri, planting Sky's legs on the mat and quickly applying the Liontamer for the second time of the contest. Sky got a rope break previously, but he's trapped in the dead center of the squared circle this time, and forced to tap out after a heck of a showing. Jon Moxley watches Jericho's celebration from the aisleway afterward, hinting at the next title feud, but Mox remains in full Orange Cassidy move, refusing to instigate anything before the show goes off the air. This was a frustrating ending to a disappointing night, as Sky was reduced to an afterthought moments after almost claiming a world title, which is not ideal, and Moxley being a bystander doesn't suit his personality at all, he's a fighter, not an observer.
4/10
As you could probably tell, this episode of Dynamite really got on my nerves, although when I take an objective look through it, there are definite positives. Everything surrounding Jericho was entertaining, the Omega-PAC match definitely had it's moments, I was in awe of what Statlander and Sky could do in the air, and Cody's return pop was awesome. But this was such obvious filler, and AEW should be held to higher standards. They can be better than this, and Chicago deserves far more.
- Henry
Comments