It’s Wednesday and you know what that means. The AEW rankings are back! The top contenders are in action as Hangman Page is set to face Toa Liona, who was chosen by Swerve Strickland. Strickland’s opponent is teased to be Rob Van Dam, who was chosen by Page. For the first time ever surprisingly, Jon Moxley is set to face Jeff Hardy. Deonna Purrazzo faces off against Taya Valkyrie as she attempts to get closer to securing a title match with Toni Storm. Chris Jericho is also back in singles action as he continues his long feud with the Don Callis Family. Jericho faces the ROH TV champion Kyle Fletcher.
Jon Moxley defeats Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy for the second week in a row is in singles action on Dynamite, after his good showing with Swerve from last week. Watching on in the crowd were some of the stars of CMLL, who had a brief interaction with Moxley during the match.
During the match, in brutal fashion, Moxley stuck a pen in Hardy’s ear-ring hole which made the crowd wince. Moxley and Hardy had a good back and forth, with Hardy looking strong, however Moxley ended up putting Hardy to sleep for the victory. Moxley offered a hand to Hardy after the match but Hardy refused. This descent into madness continues for Hardy.
After that, the CMLL guys rushed the ring and began to attack Moxley. Security and some members of the locker room came to break it up. This might be the start of a special partnership between AEW and CMLL!
Hangman Adam Page defeats Toa Liona
Toa Liona is an absolute beast, and he has enough credibility in tag action to be a viable opponent in singles competition, as he’s never been pinned or submitted in AEW. For the majority of the match, Liona had the edge, with Page having to sell for large portions. Page gained some momentum but only in little spurts. Later in the match, Page attempted a dead-eye on Liona but could not execute the move due to Liona’s size. Finally, Page was able to do the move after wearing Liona down, but Liona no-sold it! Liona was not done there as he attempted a moonsault off the apron to the outside but Hangman moved out of the way and hit a moonsault of his own. Page tried to hit a buckshot lariat but Liona moved out of the way, Page rolled up Liona and stole the victory but Liona looked fantastic in the process.
Young Bucks Segment
The bucks arrived to the arena earlier in the day in a limo. They were greeted by one of the crew members who called them Nick and Matt. Nicholas Jackson was livid and ended up fining the crew member $500.
Wardlow defeats Komander
Komander was given some offense early but the match dominated by Wardlow, predictably. However, Komander gained some momentum and hit some big moves on Wardlow which included a big phoenix splash that landed on Wardlow’s throat. Wardlow kicked out and was able to turn the match into his favor and get the victory. After the match, the Undisputed Kingdom attempted to beat Komander down but Orange Cassidy and Rappongi Vice came out for the save.
Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Sting & Darby Allin Sit-Down Interview
Starks discussed that he was apart of Sting’s first match in AEW, which Sting mentioned ended in a victory for the Stinger. The two teams went back and forth, ending with Starks spraying water in Allin’s face. Allin didn’t attack Starks and was eventually held back by Sting.
Chris Jericho defeats Kyle Fletcher
The match was well worked as Fletcher is a dynamic performer and Jericho did not phone it in at all. Fletcher was made to look strong as he survived the walls of Jericho and kicked out of a codebreaker. Fletcher pulled of a brain-buster on the corner that didn’t come off perfectly, but it was an impressive attempt nonetheless. On the outside, Jericho hit a Judas Effect as Fletcher was doing a dive to the outside. Jericho then went on the top rope and hit a flying Judas Effect for the victory. After the match Konosuke Takeshita came out to the ramp to stare down Jericho as they are set to face each other next week on Dynamite.
Deonna Purrazzo Segment
Purrazzo spoke about how her tattoos all mean something to her and the one she has with Toni Storm symbolizes that moment in her career. It was also a symbol of sisterhood as they both were inching and clawing to get to the top of the industry together.
Bang Bang Scissor Gang Segment
The two teams came out to the ring and just had a little fun together and even brought out rock hard juice board. They did their usual “we got two words for ya” gimmick and ended up embracing in the middle of the ring.
Deonna Purrazzo defeats Taya Valkyrie
The match was decent as Purrazzo was able to get a solid showing out of Valkyrie, who hasn’t been on AEW tv in a while Purrazzo’s presentation has been great since she’s come in. The Virtuosa pulled off a new submission to get the victory as Toni Storm watched on looking concerned.
Darby Allin Backstage Interview
Allin was asked by a hesitant Renee Paquette about his admiration for the Young Bucks, a line clearly fed to the interviewer from the tag team. The Bucks crashed the interview. Matthew asked why Darby is letting a 65-year-old leech latch onto him. Nicholas then called out Darby for ducking them over the past few weeks. Darby affirmed that the only things currently on his mind is the AEW tag titles.
Swerve Strickland defeats Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam was teased on Collision to be Swerve’s opponent and it came to fruition. Before the match, Page appeared on screen and told Swerve that as dealer’s choice, this match will also be a hardcore match. RVD wasted no time and threw a chair at Swerve’s face right away. The two had good back and forth with RVD hitting some of his big moves which got a big reaction from the crowd. However, the shenanigans started with Brian Cage interfering to help out Swerve. Hook came for the save and the two ended up fighting into the back. Swerve got the advantage on RVD and soon after he hit a swerve stomp on RVD as he was sitting on a chair on the outside. Swerve took RVD in the ring to finish the job as he was setting up another swerve stomp, however RVD threw a chair up at Swerve which caused Swerve to follow on a table on the outside. However, RVD couldn’t hit the five-star frog splash as Swerve moved out of the way. Strickland was finally able to hit the swerve stomp once more and secured the victory.
Hangman Page’s music hit after the match. Page came to the ring and the two began to battle on the microphone. Swerve said he has nothing to prove as he as already beat Page twice. Page told Swerve that he needed the Mogul Embassy’s help the last two times they faced each other. Swerve offered Page another match and it was quickly announced for next week, with the winner set to face Samoa Joe for the title at Revolution.
