Dynamite – December 14, 2022: Well. Ok Then.
Dynamite
Date: December 14, 2022
Location: Curtis Culwell Center, Garland, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz
It’s time for Winter Is Coming and in this case that means a pair of big matches. First up, we have the battle for the World Title and the Dynamite Diamond Ring with Ricky Starks challenging MJF. Other than that, it’s the fourth match in the best of seven series between the Elite and the Death Triangle. Let’s get to it.
Here is last week’s show if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Elite vs. Death Triangle
Match #4 in a Best Of 7 series with Death Triangle up 2-1 and Don Callis on commentary. Matt and Penta start things off with neither being able to get the better of things. Instead everything breaks down and the Elite hits a bunch of dives to take over. We settle back down to Omega working on Pac’s arm as Nick Jackson seems to have hurt his ankle on a dive.
With the actual tag match going on again, Fenix takes over on Matt as Nick is taken to the back. We take a break and come back with Matt beating up the Lucha Bros on his own, only to have Fenix get over for the tag to Pac. Omega comes in as well for YOU CAN’T ESCAPE into the middle rope moonsault.
Pac fights up until Kenny takes him down again, only to have Penta package piledriver Matt on the apron. Fenix comes back in and frog splashes Omega for two but the Black Arrow misses. Cue Nick Jackson to limp back to ringside, where Penta hits in him the ankle with the hammer. Fenix grabs a heel hook for the win at 14:48.
Rating: B-. The matches continue to be fun but it is still hard to get invested into seeing them over and over. It doesn’t help that this seems to be setting up a bit Elite comeback, though it would be kind of hilarious to see this not go to seven matches. For now though, it was good enough, though I don’t care to see it again next week.
Post match Omega grabs the mic and says if Death Triangle wants to cheat, let’s just make the next match No DQ. Oh and he wasn’t authorized to cut this promo so we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
MJF talks about how Ricky Starks worked hard to get here and now everyone wants to see him win the big one. Yeah, MJF was born privileged and with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was just better than Starks at everything.
Here is the Acclaimed for the topical rap but Jay Lethal/Jeff Jarrett and company jump them from behind. The guitar shot knocks Bowens silly and Jarrett says LISTEN. Remember when AEW’s tag division was such a great thing and not Lethal and Jarrett getting a title feud?
We look at Claudio Castagnoli winning the Ring Of Honor World Title at Final Battle over the weekend.
Chris Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society aren’t happy with their losses at Final battle. Jericho is ready to win his World Title back while Daniel Garcia….gets cut off by Jericho, who says Garcia never should have lost. From now on, Garcia needs to follow around his new mentor: Sammy Guevara. This Friday, Guevara is going to beat up Jon Moxley on Rampage.
Brian Cage vs. Jungle Boy
Jungle Boy is still banged up from Big Bill’s chokeslam coming in. Cage runs him over to start and Jungle Boy can’t quite get up. The curls into the standing fall away slam take us to a break and we come back with Cage continuing the beatdown. A release German suplex into a full nelson slam give Cage two but Jungle Boy manages a desperation Canadian Destroyer. The Snare Trap goes on but Prince Nana’s distraction means the referee doesn’t see the tap. Cage knocks Nana off the apron by mistake and it’s an O’Connor roll to give Jungle Boy the win at 8:18.
Rating: C. So you kick out of a Canadian Destroyer but get pinned by an O’Connor roll? Anyway, the good thing here is that Jungle Boy won, because he needs to get a bit more momentum going. At the very least, calling him Jack Perry, as commentary was doing for most of the match, is a nice step forward and should give him a much longer shelf life.
Post match Jungle Boy calls out Big Bill but gets Stokely Hathaway instead. Lee Moriarty runs out to go after Jungle Boy, allowing Big Bill to come in and run Jungle Boy over. The beatdown, including a chokeslam, drops Jungle Boy but Hook of all people runs in for the save. Hook gets a crazy reaction so it might be time to start pulling the trigger.
The Blackpool Combat Club brags about their recent success and Jon Moxley is ready for Sammy Guevara on Rampage. Oh and Hangman Page and the Dark Order can bring it anytime.
Video on Swerve In Our Glory having issues. They’ll meet face to face (not in a match) next week to handle things.
House Of Black vs. The Factory
Julia Hart sprays mist at the Factory to start and the beating begins quickly. The House cleans house to start, with Malakai Black and QT Marshall not getting involved. With the rest of the Factory down, the bell rings and black kicks Marshall in the head for the pin at 22 seconds. More of this, less of the talking.
Hikaru Shida and Jamie Hayter are ready to fight next week.
Britt Baker and Rebel don’t think Hikaru Shida is ready for Jamie Hayter Skye Blue interrupts and it’s Blue vs. Baker at Rampage.
Chris Jericho vs. Action Andretti
Jericho shoves him to start and hammers away in the corner as the fans chant LET’S GO JOBBER. Andretti manages a shot of his own and a bottom rope splash gets two. Jericho isn’t having that and busts out a Death Valley Driver into a Codebreaker for…..two? Back from a break with Andretti busted open but getting a boot up in the corner. Some chops rock Jericho, who pokes Andretti in the eye.
A running forearm rocks Jericho but Andretti’s split legged moonsault only hits raised knees. The Judas Effect misses and Andretti rolls him up for two. A springboard spinning kick to the head connects and Jericho is clotheslined to the floor. An Arabian press drops Jericho again but he pulls a springboard into the Walls. That takes too long as well though and Andretti small packages him for two, setting up what looked like a tornado DDT. The running shooting star press gives Andretti the completely clean pin at 9:30.
Rating: B. Well. Ok then. I wasn’t exactly seeing this coming and they actually went with this for a change. It was the kind of thing that you see happen about once every few years but it is almost never anyone on Jericho’s level. Throw in the fact that it wasn’t even a fluke rollup and this is even more surprising. Well done on throwing in a heck of a curve ball and having a rather good match at the same time. I’m still trying to process this one and that’s a nice sign.
Ricky Starks is ready for his big World Title match because he has been working so hard to get here. Tonight everything comes to a head and no one cares about anything MJF says. There are a lot of people who are want to see Starks do what he can and he is a reflection of what MJF wants to be. Starks is going with everything he can with these promos.
FTR wants the Gunn Club for jumping them at Final Battle.
Chris Jericho is livid.
Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo
Sammy Guevara is here with Melo. It’s a brawl on the floor to start with Soho being sent into the barricade a few times. They get inside and Soho says she can go so the bell rings. Soho sends her to the floor but walks into a hammerlock DDT on the ramp. We take a break and come back with Soho planting Melo down. Back up and Melo hits a heck of a pump kick for two, followed by the Gotch Style piledriver for the same. The TayKO is broken up though and Soho knees her in the face. No Future (or Destination Unknown, as Excalibur isn’t sure) finishes Melo at 9:02.
Rating: C. This was just a match as Soho gets a little revenge for Melo injuring her a few months back. Soho is someone who seems like she should be ready to move up the ladder in a hurry but for some reason that has never taken off. Maybe she can pick it up a little bit here, but that has not exactly taken off so far. For now though, nice enough of a start.
Post match Anna Jay comes down and beats Soho down.
Hangman Page remembers being knocked out in Cincinnati. He was taken away in an ambulance and woke up, where the medics were asking him questions. Page remembers being in Cincinnati on October 18, but couldn’t remember his son’s name. So yeah, he’ll fight Jon Moxley on Rampage.
Dustin Rhodes and the Best Friends are ready for Kip Sabian, Trent Seven, the Butcher and the Blade on Rampage. Dustin referring to Danhausen as the Spooky Boy was great.
AEW World Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Ricky Starks
MJF is defending the title and the Dynamite Diamond. Starks gets annoyed to start and MJF runs him over, setting up the old school strut. Back up and MJF leapfrogs him, only to get shouldered out to the floor. MJF gets back in and is promptly backdropped into a sunset flip for two.
A small packages gives Starks two more as we hear about the stipulations in the remaining Death Triangle vs. Elite matches. MJF grabs a waistlock before sending him outside as we take a break. Back with Starks holding an abdominal stretch and grabbing the ropes for a bonus. The referee catches him though and kicks the arm away, allowing Starks to hiptoss his way to freedom.
The Roshambo is blocked so Starks settles for a sitout powerbomb and a near fall instead. MJF is right back with a powerbomb onto the knee for two and it’s time to slug it out. Starks nails the spear but can’t follow up as he’s down to hold his arm. The Salt of the Earth keeps Starks in trouble, with MJF tying the arm up with his legs as well. Starks uses his leg to make the rope but still can’t hit Roshambo. MJF hides behind the referee and uses the distraction to set up a low blow. The small package retains MJF’s title at 15:46.
Rating: B. The ending was a bit lame but they were trying with Starks here and that is a good thing. Starks is someone who could be a big star down the line but for now though, he isn’t ready to win the title here. They had a good match here and MJF gets his first title defense out of the way and now he gets to move on to the first real opponent.
Post match MJF goes to leave but Bryan Danielson cuts him off. The chase sends MJF into the crowd and up the steps with Danielson letting him go for some reason.
Overall Rating: B+. This was a good show for the most part, with the ending setting the stage for the main event for the next few weeks, if not months. Other than that you have the Jericho surprise and another Death Triangle vs. Elite match, the latter of which will see your mileage vary. Energetic show, and hopefully they can keep that going for weeks to come.
Results
Death Triangle b. Elite – Heel hook to Nick Jackson
Jungle Boy b. Brian cage – O’Connor Roll
House Of Black b. The Factory – Black Mass to Marshall
Action Andretti b. Chris Jericho – Running shooting star press
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Ricky Starks – Small package
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Page’s promo was great. Interested to see where he goes.
I didn’t expect Starks to win, but where does he go now. AEW clearly sees something in him and he gets a good reaction from the crowd. Hopefully he doesn’t get lost in the sauce.
I never really got the hate for Omega and The Bucks, but man this whole best-of-7 leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They get suspended, come back into a title program, and get to be portrayed as the scrappy underdogs. 2003 HHH thinks this is too much.
That last part sums it up.
They caused at least part of the problem, they go away for a few weeks, they come back, get to mock Punk with no repercussions, and get a big featured program. All this and an “oh well” shrug and nothing more. How is that supposed to be interesting?
The Jericho match was stupid af, people are comparing this to 123 kid ramon but as you pointed out it wasn’t a fluke, 123 kid got lucky when Ramon posted himself and got a lucky moonsault and a quick win and ramon was too surprised to react. This was something I’ve never ever seen before, a total jobber kicking out of a stars finish, the codebreaker and then rolling out of his other two finishers and beating him completely clean. I don’t know wtf is going, Jericho hasn’t put anyone over in 2 years except for randomly cesaro on saturday and now he’s putting over a random jobber? MJF could’ve used that win at all out a year ago or Eddie Kingston who got no push from his feud with Jericho and lost every match but nope, random jobber no one knows instead. I don’t really know what you mean in that this a match you’ll see every couple years because this was uniquely idiotic and weird. It might be Jericho wanting to save face for being Hoganesque for the last 2 years or maybe Jericho just doesn’t give a shit anymore and wants to go back to WWE for one more match and retire idk. He’s been working really hard over the last two months but him tapping to the swing was weird af and it doesn’t really make sense because Jericho won roh title from Cesaro and then dropped title to Cesaro and ROH only had him as a draw as champion for one ppv. AEW marks were saying Garcia was going to win it from him which clearly didn’t happen, not that I wanted too but the whole title reign feels, while entertaining and involving good matches, pretty pointless.
Dang, was hoping for a DQ or something so Starks could win the ring but not the title. I guess they don’t want a loss on the champs record this earlier though, or maybe not to drag the Starks story on. Big Starks fan, so hopefully they’ll have something more lined up for him.