Dynamite – May 27, 2020: There’s The Headliner
IMG Credit: AEW
Dynamite
Date: May 27, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
We’re done with Double Or Nothing and that means it’s time to start getting ready for the summer. I’m not sure what that is going to mean as AEW takes its time to get to their next pay per views. We do have Fyter Fest though, and that should give us a goal for the next few weeks. Let’s get to it.
Here is Double Or Nothing if you need a recap.
We open with a recap of Double Or Nothing.
The Inner Circle is upset over their loss and have to get rid of this box of Stadium Stampede winner shirts. Hang on though as it’s a little more than that. Santana got a deal from his buddy Carlos and opens the back of a truck, showing crate after crate of shirts. Jericho is distraught in a funny bit.
Opening sequence.
Here’s a preview of what is going down tonight.
Matt Hardy and the Elite are ready for their match but Hangman Page wants to go get a drink. Kenny Omega joins him, so Matt is ready to team with the Bucks on his own. They wouldn’t mind an older version of him, so Matt turns into the Team Extreme version. Actually can he go a little older than that? Matt becomes….I guess late 90s version and asks if they’re ready to be spot monkeys.
Matt Hardy/Young Bucks vs. Joey Janela/Private Party
The Bucks waste no time in starting with the flips and dives on Marc Quen early on. Janela comes in and gets caught with a splash/double enziguri in the corner but Nick is sent hard to the floor. Back in and Nick is sent hard to the floor. That means we get the abdominal stretch back inside, meaning the Wilbur Snyder references are on. Nick manages to send Janela to the floor but superkicks Butcher by mistake.
The fight is on and JR takes a completely necessary shot at WWE for mentioning the Plexiglas in front of their wrestler fans. Back in and the hot tag brings in Hardy for the Side Effect on Kassidy. A double DDT plants Private Party and there’s another Side Effect to Janela. Everything breaks down and Private Party hits the big double flip dive. Quen comes up holding his knee but Kassidy slingshots in with a Downward Spiral (which didn’t land right and looked like Matt gave him a Side Effect) for two. The Bucks come back in and More Bang For Your Buck finishes Kassidy at 9:53.
Rating: C. Yeah it was another all over the place tag match, but it would be nice to have things slow down for once. AEW has some amazing tag teams but they rely so much on these insane tag matches. Maybe slow things down a bit and have a standard match instead of going all out like this. You can do these matches on a regular basis, but not an all time basis.
Post match, Hardy helps the injured Quen to the back in a nice moment. Butcher and Blade run in to beat down the Young Bucks but FTR (the Revival) drive in with their truck for the save. A spike piledriver plants Blade and FTR shows respect to the Bucks. It’s cool that they’re there, but they better tear the house down.
Brian Cage vs. Lee Johnson
Jon Moxley is on commentary and Taz is here with Cage. Splash in the corner, powerbomb, Drill Claw in 1:13.
Post match Taz promises that Cage is going to take Moxley’s heart at Fyter Fest. Moxley better bring his grit, because he’s only surviving if Cage lets him.
It’s time for Britt Baker’s Rules Of Being A Role Model, with Tony Schiavone having to operate the pointer. The third rule is all about Britt: Don’t Hurt The Role Model. She claims a conspiracy has led her to having a broken tibia, and we look at the various conspirators. They would be the wrestlers involved in the match last week (Britt: “Kris Stadtlander, you being an alien is a crock of s***!”), and now we need a chart.
Everything leads back to Aubrey Edwards, who is here for every bad thing that happens to her. Baker: “When my nose was broken, Aubrey Edwards was somewhere!” Baker will be back at All Out. Hopefully she gets to stay on TV, because this was great stuff, as usual. Just give us more Baker either way.
The Inner Circle is ready for their pep rally tonight when Orange Cassidy walks in and out. Jericho: “Did he really just do that?”
Christi Jaymes vs. Hikaru Shida
Non-title. Shida takes Jaymes up against the ropes but Jaymes shoves her back a bit and dances. Shida is invited to dance as well but Jaymes kicks her leg out as a result. That’s too far for Shida, who grabs her by the hair, only to have Jaymes do the same. A backbreaker finally slows Jaymes down and we hit the one armed camel clutch. Jaymes gets out and hits Shida in the face for two, only to miss a Lionsault. The running knee to the face sets up a running knee to the back of the head to give Shida two. The Falcon Arrow finishes Jaymes at 5:20.
Rating: C-. What the heck was that? Shida slayed the beast on Saturday and then takes five minutes to go 50/50 with someone with one match experience around here? This was a great way to make Jaymes look important, but it made Shida sweat when she should have been taking a victory lap. It’s ok to have more than one squash in a row and AEW would be well served to learn that. This made Jaymes look like a star and Shida like someone who had to survive against someone beneath her. That’s not exactly a great way to present the new champion.
We look at Cody winning the first TNT Title. Cody talks about Tom Brady being his favorite quarterback and it’s not because he was from the northeast. Cody: “I don’t think I’ll ever be welcome back in Connecticut.” It’s because Brady wasn’t the first pick and neither was Cody. When Tony Khan wanted to start the best bell to bell company in the world and he was the fourth or fifth pick.
Cody talks about how Dustin got all the Dusty genes (we cut to Brandi and Dustin watching at ringside and Brandi having to get QT Marshall’s attention away from Allie) but he will outwork anyone. That’s why every week, it’s an open challenge for the title. Wrestling is without its greatest asset at the moment but the fans have never dropped them. So follow him.
Kip Sabian/Jimmy Havoc vs. SCU
The winners get a title shot next week, Penelope Ford is here with Sabian/Havoc, it’s Scorpio Sky/Kazarian for SCU and it’s a brawl before the bell. We settle down to Sky working over Havoc’s arm and Kazarian dropping a knee onto it for a bonus. Kazarian gets two off an O’Connor roll but Havoc kicks him into a boot from Sabian to take over. A catapult sends Kazarian into an eye poke as the villains take over. Havoc goes after the eyes as we take a break.
Back with Kazarian still in trouble until he can slingshot into a roll over to Sky. A rolling cutter sets up a dragon sleeper on Sabian with Havoc making a fast save. Sabian’s top rope double stomp gets two on Sky but Kazarian comes back in for an assisted swinging DDT for two of his own. Ford breaks up SCULater though and it’s the dropkick/Michinoku Driver combination to Sky for the pin at 12:02.
Rating: C. Just a match here but I can go with them trying someone new in the title scene. Given that the titles haven’t been defended in three months, it would be nice to see the titles actually on the line for once. I can’t imagine Havoc and Sabian actually win, but throw in the right amount of interference and we might be getting somewhere.
MJF is ready to win the battle royal because he’s awesome. Wardlow will be in there with him as his insurance policy. Wardlow: “But…”. MJF: “BUT NOTHING!!!!” Just ribbing of course.
Battle Royal
Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Wardlow, Colt Cabana, Luther, Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus, Christopher Daniels, Orange Cassidy, Sonny Kiss, Jungle Boy, Peter Avalon
The winner gets a shot at Cody next week (despite the open challenge making this match a little unnecessary). Cassidy isn’t in the ring when the bell rings so here are Santana and Ortiz to jump him from behind. It’s the usual brawl to start as MJF sits on the top to hide behind Wardlow. Luther throws Stunt to start and gets kicked in the face by Luchasaurus.
Stunt tries to go after Luchasaurus as Kiss kicks MJF in the face. Wardlow dumps Kiss (who JR seemed to refer to as “she” twice) and MJF goes outside to beat Kiss up some more. Cabana hits the Flying Apple on Billy, who dumps Cabana out without much effort. That’s enough for Cabana to take a flier from the Dark Order at ringside as we take a break.
Back with Stunt hurricanranaing Daniels out and promptly being tossed out by Wardlow. We’re down to Wardlow, Luchasaurus, Gunn, Jungle Boy and MJF. The monsters slug it out but MJF goes after Luchasaurus’ leg. Gunn breaks that up and slugs it out with Luchasaurus, until MJF and Wardlow dump both of them.
Cassidy rolls in because he was never eliminated so MJF busts out the ring. It hits Wardlow by mistake and Jungle Boy eliminates MJF. Cassidy and Jungle Boy get rid of Wardlow and we’re down to two. Boy sends him over the top but Cassidy skins the cat and comes back in for some Superman punches. A rebound clothesline takes Cassidy down and a running hurricanrana gives Boy the win at 11:15.
Rating: C-. Battle royals are always a little rough but I like the pick for the win here. As usual, if you do a battle royal properly, you can set up more matches at the same time other than just for the winner, so hopefully they make that happen here. The action wasn’t all that great here, but it could have been a lot worse.
Video on Stadium Stampede.
It’s time for the pep rally, with cheerleaders and a drum band. Vickie Guerrero (“Get your earplugs ready”) comes out as an extra cheerleader to introduce the Inner Circle. Chris Jericho promises that the Inner Circle will rise like five sexy phoenixes. This is all for the fans so everyone gets a Stadium Stampede shirt! The fans start throwing the shirts back and Sammy, on a crutch, has to calm things down. They may not have won, but they participated, so everyone gets a trophy! Jericho: “Mine says king of dad jokes.” Sammy: “Well there’s a pandemic going on so it’s hard to find trophies.”
Santana has some chopped cheese for Ortiz, some Vick’s vapor rub for Sammy (Santana: “My abuela says that heals anything.” Jericho: “My abuela says that too.”), some discount boots for Jake Hager, and a picture of Mark Anthony for Jericho. That works for Chris, because that’s his hero. Sammy gets the Hit Me Up mobile scooter, and Ortiz gets some headphones to stop the ringing in his ears. Hager….has written a poem, about how great the Inner Circle is. He’ll choke anyone who doesn’t like them and he wants to run the Elite over with his Tesla.
This goes into a crazed rant about how he wants to murder the Elite, with Jericho having to cut him off. Hager: “The end.” Jericho: “….good stuff.” Sammy asks Jericho what he wants, which would be Mike Tyson’s head on a platter. Jericho remembers what Tyson did to him in January 2010 on a Monday night so it’s time for revenge. Sammy couldn’t get Tyson’s head on a platter, but he’s got a CHEESE PLATTER, plus a little bit of the bubbly. Actually the cheese has been eaten and the bubbly has been consumed.
Cue Tyson with his vast entourage (including some MMA fighters), carrying the bubbly bottles. Jericho yells at Tyson for turning on him but Tyson says he deserved it for being a sucker. An apology is demanded but Tyson takes off his shirt. There’s the shove and the pull apart brawl is on. The locker room comes in for the save and everyone has to pull them apart to end the show. Jericho vs. Tyson is a headliner match, though it’s going to be an absolute freak show.
Overall Rating: C+. This show was a little shaky, though they advanced some stuff that they needed to cover. What matters here is setting things up for the future while also dealing with the fallout. You can see the top half of Fyter Fest (whenever that is taking place) from here and the card isn’t looking bad. I’m not wild on some of the wrestling here, but that’s not as important as the future booking and storytelling, both of which were good enough to carry the night. Couple that with the very pep rally and it was a pretty good show.
Results
Matt Hardy/Young Bucks b. Joey Janela/Private Party – More Bang For Your Buck to Kassidy
Brian Cage b. Lee Johnson – Drill Claw
Hikaru Shida b. Christi Jaymes – Falcon Arrow
Kip Sabian/Jimmy Havoc b. SCU – Dropkick/Michinoku Driver combination to Sky
Jungle Boy won a battle royal last eliminating Orange Cassidy
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Up here in Western Canada, Tyson is getting more coverage and viral views then any other fighter due to his comeback bid and workout videos. This is a smart move on AEW ‘s part to get more eyeballs. Also, great show tonight and The Revival already feel like a better fit here than in WWE where they were just treated as a comedy team.
Jericho does it again. He brings up something from a past raw years ago and makes a marginal segment from that raw into a huge segment where media is at least bringing it up. Genius.
Yeah, ESPN bringing it up borders on cringe because they don’t treat wrestling as legitimate(I get that) but that’s not really meant for us but more of Tyson being such a polarizing figure. Would have loved a Tyson and Rodman segment. They are naturals when it comes to the psychology of a wrestling promo
I mean ESPN doesn’t mean much anymore. They are struggling. Ratings aren’t getting better for them. They’re slowly dying. ESPN is a mainstream name but honestly, they really aren’t mainstream anymore. So I’m not sure how much this helps.
I’m not sure Tyson means much anymore as well.
Yeah. Streaming killed the television star. People can watch highlights when they want.
Yeah you could say that about Tyson now I totally understand that. I was in Vegas for Bite Night in 97 with my dad, but that’s me
I can understand how an audience that really did not see Tyson fight could say that and at the end of the day it can’t be just us watching
New viewers have to come along and at least be interested enough to see highlights. Watching an entire show is a thing of the past really due to my first thought in this response
I’m not sure I’d say ESPN doesn’t mean much anymore. They’re still pretty easily the kings of sports on TV.
Funnily enough, TNT actually reaches more households than ESPN does.
ESPN is still “king” but as of last month, their primetime ratings are down 60%. No one is watching. ESPN’s customer base is shrinking consistently.
So yeah AEW made ESPN, but who noticed? In non-corona times, maybe this would be better. However, AEW’s core are the people who are cutting the cord. So again, I just don’t see ESPN as a big deal. Not now, not 5 months ago.
You liked the Britt Baker segment and didn’t find it endless and cringeworthy?
Please do explain good sir.
Chris Jericho made the ending work like he makes everything work. He’s the best in the world.
I’ve read maybe 2 AEW Reviews before this one. The first one and the most recent PPV. I scroll down Facebook and see Jericho vs Tyson.
Now I’m here reading the article, I’ll be back next week and they have my interest.
The Mike Tyson card still works in 2020.
So there grand plan is to bring in 50 year old Mike Tyson against Chris Jericho. Yeah I’m done with AEW. I’ll stick with WWE, ROH, maybe even give Impact a try again.
It’s a slow work day, I’ll bite. It will be a train wreck of a match, but Jericho is their biggest star and Tyson still draws mainstream attention. That’s something all wrestling companies constantly chase.
Mike Tyson’s clash with Chris Jericho made newspaper headlines here in the UK, along with Brazil and India. Not my favourite booking in the world but it did what it needed to do.
Eh it only made like ESPN news here in the US. ESPN isn’t that big of a deal anymore. Tyson isn’t much of a star anymore.
Also, you guys still have newspapers?
I see your point Jay , however Mike can be 90 and about to go and he would still get eyeballs and most likely ears(he loves those,just kidding). The fact of the matter is we are not going to like every thing, but at least the marketplace is full of options.
Here’s an idea that no one talks about maybe KB you can educate us but did WWF at the time ever do any cross promotion between Andre and Ali? I’m pretty sure they did, just can’t recall off the top of my head.
I know they posed together but I don’t recall any TV appearances.
Just because it made Newspapers doesn’t mean it was any good. I’m not a Boxing Fan,.it was cool 22 years ago but it’s not so much now IMO. I think what broke me more than that was Christopher Daniels being eliminated like a schmuck by a Child playing Wrestler in that Battle Royal.