AEW Dynamite opened with Jon Moxley making his entrance to the ring, making his first appearance since unifying the AEW World Championship.
Mox noticeably got booed by the Chicago audience a bit, and they chanted for CM Punk. A smaller contingent was chanting for Moxley, and popped when Moxley said that they were still mopping Punk off the mat in Cleveland. Moxley noted that Punk used to be known as the 60-minute man on the indies, but that wasn’t true last week.
Moxley said that Punk looked for a way out last week and gave up, and that real champions never fold. Mox said that Punk had a fragile ego, fragile mind, fragile body, and fragile spirit. He then put an open contract that he already signed in the middle of the ring for AEW All Out.
Moxley said that it didn’t matter who came for him, and that he was indomitable will personified, and that he was the heart and soul of pro wrestling and that it was bad for their health to step into the ring with him. This was a fantastic promo.
As the announcers were running down the show, Ace Steel, CM Punk’s trainer and friend, came down to the ring and grabbed the contract and took it backstage.
Chris Jericho was backstage with Tony Schiavone, and Jericho claimed that the match with him against Danielson at All Out was a nightmare for him. Jericho said that Stu and Owen Hart would be impressed with how Jericho changed the game.
As he was talking, Daniel Garcia walked up to Jericho, and said that he was sorry for his immaturity and that he believed in Jericho. Jericho said that on Sunday it would be just him and Danielson, but until then, everything was fair game.
Bryan Danielson defeated Jake Hager w/ Chris Jericho
***1/4
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Danielson opened the match with a more MMA influenced style with kicks and Danielson trying to grapple. Danielson hit a top suicida to the floor on Hager and went for a dive, but Hager caught Danielson and slammed him through the timekeeper’s table. Hager began to work over the back of Danielson, slamming him into the ringpost and suplexing him on the floor. Hagar got the heat with some ground and pound and hard strikes for the next few minutes.
Danielson made a comeback by shoving Hager off the ropes and bitting a missile dropkick before using hard kicks on Hager to chop him down. Hager countered a triangle choke with a powerbomb. Danielson and Hager exchanged some submission attempts, but Hager made the ropes. After a quick exchange, Danielson won wit the busaiku knee. This was a fantastic match.
Daddy Magic and Angelo Parker made their way down to the ring, and Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli ran out to make the save, but Danielson was left alone in the ring and Jericho ran down with a chair. Daniel Garcia ran down and grabbed the chair from Jericho, and as Jericho argued with Garcia, Danielson hit the knee on Jericho, and Garcia knew he messed up.
The Wingman were in the ring with signs saying that they should be booked on TNT more. W. Morrisey’s music hit and he made his way down to the ring! It seems that Morrisey has signed with AEW, which is a good get, given how much he improved in Impact. Morrisey then laid out all the Wingmen., including an impressive chokeslam on JD Drake.
Stokley Hathaway came down to the ring and gave Morrisey his card after Morrissey laid out the rest of the Wingmen with chokeslams. Tony Schiavone tried to get an explanation from Hathaway, but he refused to answer and threatened Tony Schiavone.
Don Callis greeted Will Ospreay in his locker room, and said that he was no longer the same guy he was when he lost to a One Winged Angel in a tag match in NJPW, which Ospreay did not take well.
Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida defeated Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter w/ Rebel
***
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Toni Storm got the advantage on Britt Baker in the early parts of the match, but was soon attacked by Jamie Hayter who simply entered the ring and dropped her when she got too close to the opposing corner. The announcers noted that Toni Storm had surgery for her wisdom teeth recently, and appropriately, Baker began to target the jaw and mouth of Storm.
Baker went for an avalanche air raid crash off the top rope, but Storm fought her off and hit a tornado DDT before tagging out to Shida. Shida hit a meteora on Hayter, but the pinfall was broken up by Baker.
Shida hit a flying kick on Baker before pulling Hayter off the apron. Toni Storm hit her hip attack on Baker and immediately floated through the ropes into a tornado DDT on Hayter on the floor. That was impressive. Shida then hit the Kanata, a buzzsaw kick to the head of Baker, for the pinfall. This was an excellent match, and the women's division has been missing Shida on TV, as she was fairly over here.
A recap video of Kip Sabian attacking PAC aired. The voiceover was accompanied by highlights of PAC’s matches all over Europe with Sabian looking on in the crowd, before ending with Sabian promising to win the AEW All Atlantic title at All Out.
Miro cut a cryptic promo about how he was going to destroy the House of Black. Darby Allin came in and said that Brody King & Buddy Matthews didn’t need Malakai Black, but he needed them. Sting then came into view and said that the enemy of his enemy was his friend. It appears we have a trio to fight the House of Black.
CM Punk came down to the ring, saying that he got beat up in Cleveland last week, and it wasn’t the first time he got beat up there, referencing his UFC loss. Punk said that while his foot was 100%, he wasn’t sure it was ready, and he rushed back and that he let himself, the fans, and his family down.
Ace Steel made his way down to the ring and said this wasn’t the CM Punk he knew. Steel said Punk didn’t let the fans down. He said he wasn’t going to let Punk leave now, but Punk needed to get up and sign the open contract and fight Jon Moxley. Steel dropped an f-bomb on live TV, but cut one heck of a promo saying that Punk needed to fight.
Punk fired up and said that the day he was born, he was blue in the face with the cord around his neck, and they have been trying to kill him since, and that Moxley wasn’t man enough to kill him. Punk took the contract into the crowd, and promised that all of Chicago was coming for the AEW World Championship. This was an absolutely incredible promo segment.
Jungle Boy and Christian Cage say down with Jim Ross. This was the best Jungle Boy has looked in the promos in this feud. Jungle Boy said that he loved Christian, and that he wasn’t going to fight Jungle Boy on Sunday – he was going to fight Jack Perry.
FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) & Wardlow defeated Silas Young, Ren Jones, & Vic Capri
***
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Wardlow took out Jones with a lariat and then FTR hit a a series of moves after some quick tags. Jones managed to hit a punch on Harwood and tagged out to Capri, but Capri got hit with a Big Rig and then the powerbomb symphony for the win.
Jon Moxley came down to the ring and took the mic again. Moxley promised to take CM Punk out in front of his hometown fans, and that CM Punk will need a miracle to beat him on Sunday. Moxley said he was going to make Punk experience more violence than he ever has in his career.
Preston Vance & Evil Uno were backstage, talking about how Vance hurt his knee last week and Evil Uno was going to take his place in the trios tournament. Andrade el Idolo and Jose walked into the locker room and assaulted Uno when he refused to work for them, leaving his status for the tournament in question.
Wheeler Yuta defeated Rey Fenix, Rush, & Dante Martin
***1/4
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Rush and Yuta started the match in the ring, but it didn’t take long to break down into a lucha style match, with bodies flying everywhere. Martin and Fenix exchanged incredible counters into pin attempts. Fenix hit a top con giro to the floor, then Yuta hit a tope suicida, and then Martin hit a corkscrew dive. Rush then hit a tope con giro on everyone.
Rush used the camera cables as a weapon on Fenix and Yuta on the floor. Rush managed to beat on Yuta in the ring for a bit, before trying for a suplerplex. Martin cut him off, but Rush German suplex him off the top rope into Fenix, before hitting a straight jacket piledriver on Martin for a 2-count.
Fenix powerbombed Martin for a pin attempt that Rush broke up. Martin hit a poison rana on Fenix. Martin went for the nosedive, but Yuta cut him off. Fenix hit a dive to the floor on Rush. Yuta did the seatbelt and managed to pin Dante Martin.
Tony Schiavone was with John Silver & Alex Reynolds and they said that they were going to do what they could short a man, when Hangman Page walked in and offered to be their partner, as he wanted to make sure the Dark Order got the success they deserved for being his friend.
The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) defeated The United Empire (Will Ospreay & Aussie Open)
***1/2
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Don Callis noted that Omega’s shoulder brace was gone, and his rehab of the shoulder was going extremely well. Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega started the match at a rapid pace, hitting hard chops. Aussie Open and the Bucks brawled in the ring, but the Bucks managed to low bridge them and send them to the floor. Ospreay, meanwhile, sent Omega to the floor. Aussie Open sandwiched Omega between the Bucks after catching them on a dive, and then Ospreay hit a Sky Twister Press to Omega.
As the teams brawled back to the ramp, Matt Jackson hit a flip dive off the ramp onto everyone. The crowd was red hot for everything Ospreay and Omega did. Ospreay was kept trying to get at Omega, but it did not work in his favour as the Bucks kept him isolated for a bit. Mark Davis overpowered the Young Bucks by slamming them at the same time.
Omega came in used some fast-paced offence, hitting dragon suplexes on everyone. Ospreay came in and hit a hook kick before going for the Os Cutter, but Omega countered. Ospreay countered the tiger suplex and hit a rana to send Omega to the floor.
Ospreay went for the Sasuke Special, but Omega dodged and hit a dragon suplex on the floor. Aussie Open hit a delayed vertical superplex on Omega into the ring. Ospreay ripped the compression shirt of Omega, who was covered in tape on his shoulder and ribs. Omega took a beating for a few minutes.
Omega made the hot tag to Nick Jackson who ran wild, ending with a moonsault into a tornado DDT on Ospreay on the floor. Ospreay got the knees up on a 450 and Ospreay hit a snap dragon suplex on Nick Jackson. Omega and Ospreay started exchanging hard forearms. Ospreay hit a Liger Bomb on Omega. The Bucks double teamed Fletcher and hit a double superkick/V-Trigger combo with Omega for a 2-count.
Nick Jackson went for the Meltzer Driver, but Ospreay cut him off with an OsCutter and then hit Matt Jackson with a spike tombstone, but Jackson kicked out. The Elite hit a triple superkick on Fletcher. The Elite hit Ospreay with an Indy Taker and then Omega hit Fletcher with a V-Trigger and a One Winged Angel for the pinfall. What an incredible main event.
Final Thoughts
This was a phenomenal episode of AEW Dynamite, with all the matches being setup for AEW All Out. Every match on this show was good, and the angles all forwarded the stories that needed to be forwarded. The question of Moxley and CM Punk being able to main event All Out just 2 weeks after the squash match was answered quite well here, with Punk and Moxley giving some incredible promos to setup the match. On top of all of that, Aussie Open and the Elite had one of the best TV matches of the year. This was a can’t miss episode of AEW Dynamite.
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