It’s Wednesday, you know what that means. One week removed from the death defying Blood & Guts, Tony Khan has booked an interesting show from top to bottom. This edition of Dynamite features another Orange Cassidy International Championship title defense this time against AR Fox, Darby Allin facing off with Swerve Strickland in a continuation of their feud, a special three-way tag match between Blackpool Combat Club’s Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli, the Lucha Bros, and the Best Friends.
ORANGE CASSIDY DEFEATS AR FOX
A hype package plays before the match with Darby Allin speaking about his friendship with AR Fox. The segment is a nice touch as it explains why Allin wants Fox to have an opportunity in a title match. The match begins and the two veterans have some nice exchanges before Fox pulls off an impressive moonsault, launching himself of the ring post onto Cassidy on the outside. The action continues, Fox like a house on fire gets a near fall after a picture-perfect Swanton bomb from the top rope. Cassidy did a great job of making Fox look like a million bucks, winning with a mouse-trap roll up by the skin of his teeth. Cassidy’s wonderful reign with the International Championship continues. After the bell, Cassidy offers his shades to Fox who accepts, before destroying the glasses and attacking Cassidy. Allin confronts a distraught Fox on the ramp after what was a genuinely surprising heel turn. Back in the ring, Jon Moxley enters and gives Cassidy a death rider! What a series of events in the matter of just a few minutes post-match.
CHRIS JERICHO AND DON CALLIS BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Don Callis offers Chris Jericho a chance to team with Konosuke Takeshita against Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara. A reluctant Jericho accepts, and as a gesture to continue to sway Jericho into joining the Don Callis family, a painting of the two is presented by Callis. Jericho and Callis are depicted as Greek gods with Bad News Allen as a Christ-like figure in the background. Ridiculous, but also very entertaining from Callis who is in the form of his career.
BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
Castagnoli calls out Pac, a follow-up to their ROH Title at Death Before Dishonor. Moxley interrupts his stable-mate with a warning to the Lucha Bros & Best Friends prior to the main event later tonight.
JACK PERRY IN-RING INTERVIEW
A cocky Jack Perry makes his way to the ring dawning an “I Beat Hook” sleeveless t-shirt and orange shorts, very on brand for a FTW champion. Perry might still be getting the hang of this new heel persona, but he looked the most comfortable in this role to date. Perry begins to denigrate the FTW title and provokes Taz. Perry goes even further as he insults all of ECW which gets him some serious heat with the audience. Before he can continue, ECW legend Jerry Lynn interrupts and tries to pick a fight with Perry. Perry cowardly shies away but sets up a confrontation for the two men for next week on Dynamite. It’s always a pleasure to see an underrated icon like Jerry Lynn on national television.
BRITT BAKER BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Backstage, Britt Baker is interviewed by Renee Paquette. Baker calls herself the face of the women’s division and hypes her match later in the night with Taya Valkyrie.
PAC defeats Gravity
PAC in what is his first AEW tv singles match in months, has a fairly forgettable match with Gravity. The match was clunky at points with Gravity looking a bit lost. PAC did a decent enough job to carry the match, tapping Gravity out to a brutalizer. The man gravity forgot gets his revenge on his “lifelong foe.” Hold your tomatoes folks.
MJF & ADAM COLE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
MJF and Adam Cole are interviewed by Renee Paquette in the back. MJF lets out a blazing hot promo on FTR in anticipation of their Tag Title Match on Collision, this Saturday. MJF takes no prisoners especially as he mocks Dax Harwood’s accent and his love for his wife and kids. Adam Cole then expresses his appreciation to his newfound friend, letting him know that he is becoming one of his closest friends. Cole also clears the air after the little argument from last week between the pair pertaining to the AEW title. MJF lets Cole know that there are no hard feelings and he even promises a future World Title match to Adam Cole. Roderick Strong storms the scene and pushes MJF before he is calmed down by Cole. Strong doesn’t trust MJF and sees through the façade. Cole tells Strong that he’s pushing him away with his actions. This is peak soap opera wresting and it’s must-see every single week.
FTR BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Backstage with Paquette, FTR have a chance to fire back at their opponents. Cash Wheeler runs down MJF and speaks about their history in the Pinnacle together before speaking respectfully of Cole. Harwood predictably mentions his wife, kids, and his love for tag team wrestling. However, he caps off his promo with a menacing threat to MJF. This Saturday nights Collision main event will be a must-watch.
SWERVE STRICKLAND DEFEATS DARBY ALLIN
These two have such electric chemistry together. It is impossible for them to have a bad match. Allin and Strickland have worked each other dozens of times but always somehow manage to make their matches unique. It was hard-hitting, filled with exciting spots, and false finishes. Most notably, Strickland slamming Allin onto the apron from a fireman’s carry position on the top rope was hard to watch. Allin managed to beat the count before getting ambushed by AR Fox. This assist from Fox gifts Strickland the win. Post match, Nick Wayne tries to save Allin but suffers the same fate. Strickland and Prince Nana stand tall with the newest addition of the Mogul Embassy, AR Fox. Fox will find his feet with the group and will be a great consistent presence on television.
JERICHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
Chris Jericho is confronted by his fellow J.A.S stablemates, 2.0, Tay Melo, and Anna Jay. The J.A.S members voice their frustration to their leader as he seems to be inevitably leaving the group to join Don Callis. Most notably, Matt Menard offers a convincing performance as he is in the midst of disappointment. They all walkout on him similar to what Jake Hager did last week. It’s beginning to crumble for the group, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for Jericho in this storyline.
BRITT BAKER DEFEATS TAYA VALKYRIE
After what was a slow start, Valkyrie and Britt Baker manage to pick it up with some decent sequences in the last stretch of the match. Baker picks up the win with the Lockjaw. The women’s division seems to be in a lull period at the moment with the last few weeks matches not having any storyline consequence.
LUCHA BROS DEFEAT JON MOXLEY, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & BEST FRIENDS
Chaos ensues almost instantly as the three teams fight up the ramp with Chuck Taylor pulling off a flying senton off the stage onto his opponents. Moxley and Castagnoli gain control of the match early with the BCC members dominating the offense on the likes of Rey Fenix and Trent Beretta. Later on, Penta and Fenix inject some energy into the match with their thrilling offense before they’re stopped in their tracks with double piledrivers from the Best Friends. Right when the match is going to hit third gear, Cassidy interrupts which prompts Moxley to go after him. This gives the opportunity for the Lucha Bros to steal the victory. This won’t be the last we see of these three teams as there are a lot of overlapping feuds between all of them. As the show is going off the air, Excalibur announces that Moxley, Beretta, and Penta will face off next week at Dynamite 200, a three-way match between three AEW originals.
