Dynamite
Date: May 18, 2022
Location: Fertitta Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

It’s Wild Card Wednesday, meaning we find out the two Joker entrants in the Owen Hart Foundation tournaments. Other than that, we have two Dynamites left before Double Or Nothing and that means it is time to start hammering out a few more matches on the card. Most of the show is already set though and that can make things all the more interesting. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. ???

Non-title and the joker is….Johnny Elite (Nitro/Morrison/about eight other names). Feeling out process to start as Joe doesn’t seem overly impressed. Joe knocks him into the corner for some shots to the ribs, followed by an elbow to the face. Some shots to the face have Joe in a bit of trouble though and Elite knocks him to the floor, setting up the big twisting cannonball to take Joe down again.

We take a break and come back with Joe hitting a big boot and then chopping Elite down. The MuscleBuster is loaded up but Elite takes him down and goes up top. The 450 connects (with Elite’s knees hitting a good bit short) for two but Joe is right back with the MuscleBuster for the pin at 10:21.

Rating: C+. Yeah fine. Elite is about as perfect of a choice as you could get to have him come in, be a nice enough surprise, and be fed to Joe without ruining a debut. I don’t need Elite to stick around, but he had a pretty nice start to his time in AEW, even if this is it. Joe is likely making a deep run in this thing and him winning the whole tournament wouldn’t shock me.

Post match Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh come in to take Joe out with a pipe. The Best Friends make the save.

We look back at Jeff Hardy getting banged up last week against Darby Allin (egads).

The Young Bucks come up to see the Hardys, with Jeff being cleared to wrestle tonight. The Bucks have been praying for him all week but Jeff wants that “Christian AF BS” out of here. Jeff has a tournament to win and Matt threatens violence if the Bucks interfere. Matt calling the Bucks Hardys cosplayers was funny.

Hangman Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Non-title and CM Punk is on commentary. Page starts fast and knocks him to the floor but Takeshita is back in with some strikes of his own. They head to the apron with Page taking him down again as we take a break. Back with Takeshita hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb and a jumping knee for two each. They clothesline each other down but Page is back up with a release German suplex, setting up a Tombstone for two.

The buckshot lariat is countered into a jumping knee and a stalling German suplex plants Page again. They go up top with Takeshita hitting a heck of a forearm to knock Page to the mat. Page pops right up with a discus lariat and the Buckshot lariat….but doesn’t cover. Instead it’s the GTS (Punk: “I’ve got him right where I want him.”) for the pin at 12:12.

Rating: B-. I’ve liked Takeshita more than I would have expected as DDT Pro doesn’t have the best reputation for being serious. Takeshita has a good look and his work has gone well enough so I could go for more of him going forward. That being said, this was an extended workout for Page and that’s all it needed to be.

Fuego del Sol and the Dark Order are ready for the House of Black.

Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee vs. Workhorsemen

Lee gets the better of a chop off with Drake to start and hands it off to Strickland. A jumping kick to the face rocks Henry in the corner and it’s back to Lee to clean house. Lee loads up a sitout powerbomb and Strickland adds a top rope double stomp for the pin at 2:21. Nice use of the new power/speed team here.

Post match Lee says they are a top five team but here is Team Taz to interrupt. Ricky Starks calls Lee Rex from Toy Story but Strickland says Starks looks like a bar of soap with a pearl necklace on. Cue Jurassic Express with Christian Cage to interrupt. Christian says they are the best and the triple threat challenge is thrown out for Double Or Nothing. Deal. Oh and for a bonus: let’s do Jungle Boy vs. Ricky Starks vs. Swerve Strickland next week.

Red Velvet and Kris Statlander are ready to fight in the first round of the Owen Hart Tournament on Friday. Jade Cargill comes in for catchphrases/trash talk.

Here are MJF and Shawn Spears, with MJF nearly getting sick when saying he’s in Houston. He tells Wardlow to get out here right now so here is Wardlow, with his hands still cuffed. MJF spits in his face and slaps him but Wardlow maintains his composure. MJF gets in a few whips but Wardlow doesn’t flinch. Spears gets in a few whips of his own and those wake him up, but MJF gets in a low blow and unloads with the belt. The Dynamite Diamond ring knocks Wardlow cold and MJF is rather pleased with himself.

Roppongi Vice throws out the challenge to FTR for a Ring of Honor Tag Team Title shot.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rey Fenix

Fenix starts with the flips but loses a chop off to put him right back down. Back up and an armbar slows Fenix down but he knocks O’Reilly to the floor for a heck of a running flip dive. O’Reilly posts the arm though and we take a break. Back with Fenix kicking him down as O’Relly’s chest is very red. O’Reilly grabs the rolling butterfly suplexes but Fenix drives him into the corner for a springboard spinning kick to the head.

Another spinning kick rocks O’Reilly but he bounces off the ropes with a rebound lariat. O’Reilly is back with a choke, which is reversed for a jumping enziguri. Fenix isn’t done and knocks him to the floor for a rope walk flip dive. Back in and a rolling cutter is countered into a cross armbreaker for the tap at 11:16.

Rating: B. This was an interesting back and forth style, with O’Reilly being perfectly logical by going after the arm that was hurt not too long ago. O’Reilly is going to go after a limb no matter what and they gave him an extra target here. Joe vs. O’Reilly should be a good showdown next week and they have done a nice job getting us there, especially with Fenix getting in just enough flips etc. to not take it too far.

Here is the Blackpool Combat Club/Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz, as William Regal and Chris Jericho have their face to face chat (as Jericho tends to do). The Jericho Appreciation Society comes out, with the order to cut off the pyro and music. Jericho brings up the attack last week and says he thought Regal would be dead by now. Regal gets a chuckle out of that and talks about how Regal should have been one of the best of all time given all of his skills. Instead, he wound up being a world class addict.

Regal has been fired from every company he has ever worked for until he weaseled his way in here on the coattails of his proteges. Then you have Eddie Kingston, whose face was burned with a fireball. Then you have Bryan Danielson, and we pause for a YES chant. Danielson has never had a drink or taken a drug in his life, but stick with this gang long enough and Regal will have him needing the program just like Moxley. Jericho tells Regal to get out of the business or the Wizard will shoot a fireball in his face. Or relieve himself in Regal’s tea again.

The tea gets Regal talking, as the two of them have known each other since 1997. The only thing that are worse than Jericho’s voice are the screams from a burning orphanage so please be quiet. Jericho is right about Regal’s issues, but one thing has kept him going for the last 21 years. Whenever he has been on a show with Jericho, Regal would go to Jericho’s bag when Jericho was in the ring and….place Jericho’s toothbrush in a certain area. Daniel Garcia: “HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO SOMEONE???” Regal: “Actually flower, I did it to yours last week.”

Jericho loads up the Stadium Stampede challenge but Moxley says he “isn’t doing that s***.” Moxley isn’t doing that sports entertainment stuff so let’s make it anything goes with glorious violence until the Society is bleeding like stuck pigs. Call it whatever you want, including wrestling vs. sports entertainment.

Jericho seems down with that and brings up the other team’s history with each other, including Danielson calling Kingston “a judgmental prick.” Kingston to Danielson: “You are.” Kingston doesn’t care about buyrates or ratings though so let’s fight right now. Jericho and company leave instead, with Danielson and Kingston being ready to fight over giving chase. There were some great lines in there, but this wasn’t what I had in mind for Regal vs. Jericho: Face To Face, especially as Regal didn’t exactly get in any great lines in response to Jericho’s stuff.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal want the Blackpool Combat Club on Friday.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Britt Baker vs. ???

The Joker is Maki Itoh, the singing wrestler who teamed with Baker last year at Revolution. Baker loads up the Fingerpoke of Doom but Itoh small packages her for two instead. Itoh steps on her foot and hits a headbutt, only to miss a falling headbutt. There’s a Sling Blade to Baker and we take a break.

Back with Baker sending Itoh face first into the buckle, but Itoh has a hard head so she does it to herself. A headbutt puts Baker down and Itoh adds a tornado DDT for two. Itoh finally hits her falling headbutt for two but Baker pulls her straight into the Lockjaw for the win at 6:45.

Rating: D+. The match itself was nothing and that isn’t the point here. Itoh is the definition of a gimmick and therefore having her pop up once every now and then is going to work. I don’t know how much anyone was wanting a payoff to Itoh and Baker teaming together at Revolution, but for something that lasted about eight minutes, there are far worse ways to go.

Post match Toni Storm comes out for the staredown with Baker, who doesn’t seem impressed.

Here is Tony Schiavone in the ring to hype up next week’s three year anniversary show but Serena Deeb cuts him off. She is sick of hearing Tony talk, especially last week when Tony said that she can’t beat Thunder Rosa. Dustin Rhodes has had a lot to say about Deeb having no chance against Rosa, so here is Dustin to interrupt.

Deeb calls him the poster boy of failure and says Jim Ross might be the only one with any brains around here. She says Dustin knows how hard it was to be a woman in her era and even got implants to satisfy old perverts. So why does Dustin think Deeb can’t beat Thunder Rosa? Dustin has nothing to say so she slaps him in the face, which draws out Rosa. Deeb takes the Women’s Title from her and gets in a good shot. I have no idea what they were going for here, but Deeb talking isn’t a good thing.

Owen Hart Tournament Semifinals: Adam Cole vs. Jeff Hardy

Cole jumps him in the aisle and the beating starts fast. Hardy is sent into the steps, setting up a Backstabber to drop Jeff again. We take a break and come back with the slugout in the middle (because of course) but Cole enziguris him down. The sitout gordbuster gives Jeff two but the Whisper in the Wind is…kind of superkicked out of the air (that didn’t look great). The Boom misses so Jeff hits the Twisting Stunner, only to miss the Swanton. Cole hits the Boom for the pin at 7:05.

Rating: C. This felt like a rush job due to time constraints, especially with Cole jumping him in the aisle. I can kind of get the idea of not wanting Allin to lose to Cole here, but if that is the case, don’t set up the brackets that way in the first place. Hardy was still banged up here so he has an out, but it wasn’t like there was much to the match in the first place.

Post match Cole stares at Jeff but Matt Hardy gets in to cut him off. The Young Bucks come in for the cheap shot but the Hardys stare them down. Cole jumps the Hardys and here are Sting and Darby Allin for the save. Cue ReDRagon to go after Sting and Allin though, including Sting’s ankle being Pillmanized to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. AEW continues their weird streak of a good show with that one weird thing in there. This time it was Deeb’s segment, as I’m not sure I get what they were trying to do. Other than that (and the Baker vs. Itoh match, which was meant to be glorified comedy), there wasn’t much to complain about here. Double Or Nothing had matches either added or enhanced so I can’t complain all that much. Not a home run show here, but it did what it needed to do and didn’t go nuts with the surprises. I had fun, so call it at least mostly a success.

Results
Samoa Joe b. Johnny Elite – MuscleBuster
Hangman Page b. Konosuke Takeshita – GTS
Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee b. Workhorsemen – Sitout powerbomb/top rope double stomp to Henry
Kyle O’Reilly b. Rey Fenix – Cross armbreaker
Britt Baker b. Maki Itoh – Lockjaw
Adam Cole b. Jeff Hardy – Boom

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: May 11, 2022
Location: UBS Arena, Belmont Park, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re back on Long Island this week and that means it’s going to be a bit of a Bizarro World situation. CM Punk is getting to face Long Island’s own John Silver, but the big story is MJF getting to name the stipulations for his match against Wardlow with Wardlow’s freedom on the line. If nothing else, it should be fun to hear MJF get that kind of a hero’s welcome. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation First Round: Adam Cole vs. Dax Harwood

Harwood starts fast with some shots to the face but gets kneed in the ribs to cut him down. That means Cole can start to pose a bit as he stomps Harwood down even more. Harwood gets sent ribs first into the post and it’s time to go outside. Cole sends him into various other things, including HARD into the post as we take a break.

Back with Harwood getting sent chest first into the buckle. Harwood is fine enough to hang in a slugout and grab a slingshot powerbomb for two of his own. A rollup gives Harwood two but the kickout sends him into the corner, only to have him come out with a spinning crossbody out of the corner. Cole is back with a superkick but Harwood rolls him up for two more.

The Panama Sunrise is blocked so Cole goes with a kick to the face and another Panama Sunrise attempt is countered, setting up a piledriver for two. With that not working, Harwood grabs the Sharpshooter but Cole kicks him off and out to the floor. That’s good for a nine count so Cole grabs his own Sharpshooter back inside. Harwood tries to bridge out but finally collapses and taps at 15:34.

Rating: B. I don’t think there was any real doubt about the winner here and that is not a bad thing. Harwood made Cole work here but ultimately fell in the end. The last few months have been a great showcase of FTR and it is great to see Harwood getting a moment to shine here on his own. Cole is a much bigger singles star and a real threat to win the tournament so this was a very nice way to use Harwood, even if he had no real chance of winning.

Video on Darby Allin vs. Jeff Hardy. They know each other and Allin has asked Tony Khan to relax the rules so they can be insane like they want to be.

CM Punk vs. John Silver

Hangman Page is on commentary. Punk, in a New York Islanders jersey, has his music stopped so the fans can boo him even more. Feeling out process to start with Silver running him over with a shoulder. Punk’s hiptoss is countered into a backslide for two but he gets in a shot of his own and we take a break.

Back with Silver firing off some kicks, including a low superkick into a brainbuster for two. Silver slips a bit in the corner but still manages a tornado DDT for another near fall. A running leg lariat gives Punk a needed breather and he goes to the apron, but stops to stare at Page. Punk hits a not very good Buckshot Lariat for the pin at 8:06.

Rating: C+. This was a similar story as the first match and that is something that works well. Punk vs. Page is starting to feel bigger and while they are going to have their work cut out for them, it is something they can pull off. That being said, Punk might need to stick to the GTS as that lariat wasn’t exactly great to see.

Post match Page storms to the ring and gets in Punk’s face. Punk talks about how the title is just business to him and this isn’t personal. Every morning, Punk would wake up and ask if he was a good guy. Now he is waking up to ask if he is the champ and yeah he thinks he is. At Double Or Nothing, Punk is winning the title and Page is going to shake his hand whether he is conscious or unconscious. Punk extends his hand but gets flipped off as Page leaves.

Britt Baker doesn’t care about who she is facing in the Owen Hart Tournament but she knows that Jamie Hayter is going to win. Tonight, the Toni Storm is going to pass. Oh and Baker is cool with facing Hayter in the semifinals.

Danhausen vs. Tony Nese

Danhausen loads up the curse but Nese sends him into the corner and hits the Running Nese for the pin at 32 seconds. It makes sense. There is nothing to suggest Danhausen is anything more than a joke so treat him as such.

Post match Nese hits another running knee and loads up another but here is Hook for the save. Nese runs off so Danhausen extends a hand to Hook, who shakes it, much to Danhausen’s shock.

We get a promo for the next season of Dark Side Of The Ring, as narrated by Chris Jericho, about an upcoming episode on MJF vs. Wardlow. Hold on though as Jericho says he doesn’t want to narrate something from MJF….but then he finds out how much he is being paid. This turns into a video about their history, with Taz not wanting to talk about Wardlow and Barry Horowitz talking about how much of a jobber Wardlow really is. Awesome, as usual with this stuff.

It’s time for the contract signing between MJF and Wardlow, with Wardlow coming to the ring in handcuffs and MJF sporting an Islanders jersey, allowing him to soak in even more cheers. MJF goes on about the greatness that is Long Island and explains the story, even for the fans in the cheap seats (MJF: “You’re poor but you’re still beautiful.”). He also doesn’t want the fans to boo Wardlow (with some very massive winking going on) and oddly enough, Wardlow is booed out of the building.

With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the conditions, because it is time for Wardlow to pay for everything he did to Cody Rhodes. MJF again hints that he’s leaving in 2024 before saying at Double Or Nothing, he is going to whip Wardlow not one, two, etc etc, nine or…..hey Shawn Spears, how many times is he going to whip Wardlow? Anyway, if Wardlow is going to get his match, he has to beat Spears in a cage.

Wardlow REALLY likes that idea, until MJF says he’ll be the special referee. If Wardlow survives there, he can get his match at Double Or Nothing, but if he loses there, he can NEVER sign with AEW. Wardlow tries to sign but can’t with the handcuffs….so MJF says take them off. Spears and Mark Sterling point out that this is a REALLY BAD IDEA but the cuffs come off anyway.

Wardlow signs but doesn’t want the cuffs put back on. Security is taken out (with MJF hiding behind Spears) and Spears is taken out, leaving Sterling to save MJF from the Powerbomb Symphony. Then Sterling is put through the table instead. Commentary says MJF vs. Wardlow is set for Double Or Nothing, and I think it’s the whipping, the cage match and MJF vs. Wardlow all at the pay per view. Or maybe not as it’s kind of unclear. It seems that Wardlow has to get through the other stages first and then gets MJF, but their wording could have been a lot better here.

Video on Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/Satnam Singh.

FTW World Title: Ricky Starks vs. Jungle Boy

Starks is defending. They go a bit technical to start with neither being able to get anywhere until Jungle Boy blocks a right hand. Starks gets dropkicked out to the floor and we take a break. Back with Jungle Boy hitting a rebound lariat but Starks knocks him back as well. Roshambo is blocked and Jungle Boy hits a superkick for two.

As JR goes on some weird tangent about Taz having a special guest at Thanksgiving (apparently he means Danhausen, which had nothing to do with anything going on at the moment), Jungle Boy gets the Snare Trap but Starks is in the ropes. Starks tries to leave but here is Swerve Strickland to cut him off. That means the referee doesn’t see Jungle Boy roll Starks up. Once the referee is back though, the Roshambo can retain the title at 10:01.

Rating: C+. Jungle Boy gets protected in the loss but it’s still weird to see him get pinned. This would seem to set up something between Strickland/Keith Lee and the Jurassic Express, even though Team Taz is right there. That’s the calling card of a triple threat and in this case, it makes enough sense. Starks and Jungle Boy had the perfectly good match you would expect them to have too so this was completely watchable.

Post match Christian Cage and Luchasaurus come out to check on Jungle Boy and don’t look happy with Swerve. Cue Keith Lee and it’s a three way staredown, also involving Team Taz.

Here is the Jericho Appreciation Society for a victory speech, though commentary isn’t sure what victory they’re talking about. Matt Menard talks about how excited being on this team makes him before it’s off to Jericho, who says he was glad to get out of this dump. He’s the Wizard and throws fireballs in people’s faces, including Eddie Kingston.

Hold on though as Kingston needs to stay home because he needs to keep his wife happy. If Kingston can’t, call Jericho and he’ll take care of it. Daniel Garcia talks about how sports entertainers always beat wrestlers, and it’s Jon Moxley interrupting. Jericho tells him to go on another hiatus but here are Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta and William Regal.

That isn’t enough to even things up, so here are Santana/Ortiz/Eddie Kingston to start the real brawl. House is cleaned and even Regal gets in a shot on Jericho. The villains flee, as I wonder when they installed the invisible wall that is keeping the good guys from going after Jericho and company. That’s quite the one sided match on paper, but I’ll take this over the BCC crushing more and more jobbers.

Video on Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter

They go to the mat to start and neither can get very far. Back up and Hayter wins a power off and sends Storm outside as we take an early break. We come back with Storm getting two off a high crossbody but getting caught in a Rock Bottom backbreaker (with Hayter just barely getting the knee in). The ripcord lariat is countered into a German suplex though and Storm gets a breather as Hayter rolls to the apron. They slug it out until Hayter grabs a superplex, only to get small packaged for two. Hayter rolls through a backslide but Storm is right there with Storm Zero to advance at 8:32.

Rating: C+. They kept this one moving and had a physical fight to get there. I like that Storm is getting rehabbed a bit as she came in and then cooled off rather quickly, but at least they’re doing a little something with her here. I’m not sure if she is getting past Britt Baker, but one win on TV is better than another loss.

Video on Kazarian vs. Scorpio Sky.

Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti warn Kazarian about Scorpio Sky but he doesn’t want to hear it. Guevara: “SCU later.” Kazarian: “Your vlog sucks.”

Here is what is coming up on various shows. They do clarify that Wardlow will get his ten lashes next week.

Owen Hart Foundation First Round: Darby Allin vs. Jeff Hardy

Anything goes and Sting/Matt Hardy are the seconds. Allin starts at the bell and dropkicks Hardy to the floor. A bunch of chairs are set up next to each other (eight, set up four by two) but Jeff sends him face first into the steps. Hardy hammers away and turns the steps on their side but the Twist of Fate is blocked. Instead, Hardy pulls out a ladder (as we’re less than three minutes into the match) and we take a break.

Back with Allin on top of the big ladder in the ring and, after doing Jeff’s pose, flip dives onto Hardy onto the eight chairs. With that horrifically stupid idea out of the way (and Allin thankfully still moving), Allin misses a Coffin Drop onto the apron, allowing Hardy to put him on the steps for the Twist of Fate. The Swanton only hits steps though and Allin takes him back in for the Coffin Drop….so Hardy rolls him up for the pin at 10:16.

Rating: D. I know that’s not going to go over well but I got angrier and angrier throughout this….well it wasn’t wrestling so I’m not sure what to call it. Within three minutes, they had eight chairs, the ring steps and a ladder in play. After a break they did a crazy spot, then they did a crazy spot, then Allin hit his finisher but Jeff pinned him anyway. As in Jeff hardy, who can barely move, pinned Darby Allin, who (assuming he isn’t in a wheelchair because no one with any authority will tell him to stop doing those dangerous spots) could be a top star around here. If you liked it then that’s cool, but this was absolutely not for me in any way.

Post match the Undisputed Elite comes out to stare down the Hardys to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a MUCH better show than last week so I think we can write that off as the kind of bad night that happens to everyone. Main event aside (and I’m likely to be pretty alone on that one), this was an entertaining show but more importantly, it moved things forward towards Double Or Nothing. A lot of the card is either already set or is pretty clear, so now they can spend the next few weeks hammering things down. That is the important part of this week, but they also had some good action throughout. Nice stuff this week, which tends to be the case around here.

Results
Adam Cole b. Dax Harwood – Sharpshooter
CM Punk b. John Silver – Buckshot lariat
Tony Nese b. Danhausen – Running Nese
Ricky Starks b. Jungle Boy – Roshambo
Toni Storm b. Jamie Hayter – Storm Zero
Jeff Hardy b. Darby Allin – Crucifix

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

This is what happens when I start going for walks again.  In no order.

• This week on Dynamite, you had two Impact wrestlers, an advertisement for a DDT Pro wrestler, multiple Ring of Honor wrestlers, and a Ring of Honor title match in the main event, plus advertisements for the AEW vs. New Japan show.

  Tony, slow down man.

• If Khan insists on having ROH content on AEW programming, is there any reason he can’t make one of the Darks the ROH show? You have all the time you need/want and it doesn’t take away from Rampage/Dynamite. I know we might need to find another way to build up the midcard challenger of the month’s ten straight wins over Shawn Dean or whoever Dean’s female equivalent is, meaning it might put a dent in the “10 straight wins? Where?” questions, but that might be an acceptable loss.

• Ways to make the House of Black better:

  1. Have them wrestle a match in the last month (last match: March 30).

  2. Don’t have them spend a month talking about taking out Fuego del Sol.

  3. Let it go with the Death Triangle feud. You had your six man against most of them at Revolution. It’s over.

  4. Let it go with the Julia Hart thing, as it made them look like they couldn’t beat a cheerleader.

• I would be willing to buy my first wrestling shirt in over 25 years if AEW could go two weeks without the big forearm exchange. Yes, I know it’s Japanese tradition. Yes, I know it’s required in modern wrestling because the Japanese style is everything these days. Yes, I know I’m absolutely sick of it because it feels like they’re checking a box off of a list by having one.

• I’d still like to know how qualifying matches in the Owen Hart Tournaments are different than first round matches. Bobby Fish vs. Jeff Hardy isn’t good enough to be called a first round match?

• The qualifying matches for the Owen Hart Foundation tournaments began back in March, five weeks ago.  The tournaments themselves are going to run two and a half weeks.  How does that make sense?

Dynamite
Date: May 4, 2022
Location: Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

I’m not sure how but we’re less than a month away from Double Or Nothing. Last week’s show saw the announcement that CM Punk would be challenging Hangman Page for the World Title at the pay per view so at least they have the top match set up pretty far in advance. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Fish

Adam Cole is on commentary and Matt Hardy and Kyle O’Reilly are at ringside. Fish takes him into the corner to start and kicks away at the leg, setting up a dragon screw legwhip onto the other leg. They head outside with another dragon screw legwhip sending Hardy into the barricade and we take a break.

Back with Hardy making a comeback and dropping Fish to go up top. The Swanton is broken up though and it’s the super Falcon Arrow to put Hardy down for two. Fish grabs the kneebar but Hardy gets over for the rope. Hardy puts him down again and it’s the Swanton to give Hardy the pin at 10:15.

Rating: C. That’s about as high as I can go, as the match was technically fine, but they were both looking old and slow here. Granted that might be because they’re both old and slow, though I can always go for someone taking out a knee. Fish banging up Hardy’s knee was a good way to explain the slower pace, but it’s getting harder to watch Hardy out there.

Post match the Young Bucks come out for a staredown with the Hardys. I don’t think that’s a big surprise, but the Hardys trying to go at that pace could be rough.

We get a video from William Regal on training the Blackpool Combat Club. Regal talks about how this is about physicality and hurting people, which is what wrestling is. The video includes Regal physically training the team before saying that the Club would rather cut you on the face than stab you, because that is what you will remember. Check this out as it was nearly chilling with Regal sounding so serious about the whole thing. Also note that this is the shortened version, with the whole thing being available on Twitter.

AFO vs. Blackpool Combat Club

It’s Butcher/Blade/Angelico for the AFO here and the fight starts before the bell. Blade beats on Danielson at the bell before Angelico comes in and gets rolled up for two. Danielson starts on the arm and hands it off to Yuta for the same. The armdrag into an armbar keeps Blade down but it’s off to Butcher to take Yuta into the corner.

We take a break and come back with Yuta taking Butcher down so Moxley can come in. A cutter of all things drops Blade (that’s a new one from Moxley) and some biting allows Danielson to come back in on Angelico. Stereo chokes keep Butcher and Blade down and set up the triple stomps. Danielson chokes Angelico out for the win at 7:40.

Rating: C+. This needs to be about it for the Club in these nothing matches. They’re fun and entertaining, but they’re glorified target practice. The good thing is that we should be getting ready for a bigger match at Double Or Nothing so at least things aren’t going to be run into the ground. It’s still very fun to see them pounding the stuffing out of people, but it’s time to move up.

Jurassic Express is in on Team Taz’s challenge for the Tag Team Title match. First though, how about Jungle Boy gets an FTW World Title shot?

Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland are ready for Team Taz as well.

Wardlow vs. ???

Before the match, MJF and Shawn Spears come to the stage to insult Maryland and the opponent is….William Morrissey (better known as Big Cass, or W. Morrissey in Impact), which is the name that was all but guaranteed last week. They start slowly with the power game not getting either very far. Morrissey’s running splash in the corner doesn’t work but Wardlow’s does, only to have Morrissey come back with a big boot.

Wardlow is knocked outside for a posting as we get dueling WE WANT ENZO/NO WE DON’T chants. Back in and the slug it out until Morrissey hits a swinging Boss Man Slam. Morrissey puts him on top but gets knocked down, with Wardlow hitting something like a moonsault while landing on his feet. A one movement Powerbomb Symphony (also known as a powerbomb) finishes Morrissey at 5:29.

Rating: C. This went a bit longer than it needed to but Wardlow surviving a beating and then coming back for the win is all that matters. Wardlow continues to run through monsters, which should mean he can destroy MJF when he gets the chance. Not a bad monster clash here, with Wardlow continuing his roll.

Post match Wardlow isn’t being handcuffed and beats up security, leaving MJF with a stunned look on his face. Wardlow says he wants his release so MJF says they can have a little match. The match is on, but there are going to be some stipulations. Wardlow can hear about those stipulations in a contract signing next week in Long Island.

Toni Storm/Ruby Soho and Britt Baker/Jamie Hayter are ready for their tag match on Rampage. It’s the first time a women’s match has opened the show, which is another point for Baker. Soho is sick of hearing about Baker and they are counting down the minutes until 5:30 on Friday (special start time).

Here is Hangman Page for a chat. Page talks about his World Title defense against CM Punk at Double Or Nothing and he sees it differently than some do. It would be easy to talk about the two of them having a great match and a classic with a handshake but that isn’t what is going to happen.

Page is going to destroy Punk and yells at a fan in a Punk shirt, saying she is going to be running back to the merch stand for a refund. Punk isn’t here tonight because he is probably off filming another TV show. If Punk wants a fight, it will be the fight of his life. This was a pretty hard shift from Page and I can go for more of the serious version.

Video on Konosuke Takeshita.

Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh aren’t impressed with DDT Pro’s Konosuke Takeshita getting the red carpet treatment. Where is Lethal’s red carpet? Lethal throws out the challenge for Rampage.

Santana vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho, now billed as the Wizard, has the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society while Santana is here alone. Santana isn’t waiting and hits a flip dive onto Jericho before the bell. The fight starts on the floor with Santana sending him into the barricade but taking way too long to set up the steps. Instead Jericho grabs the camera, giving us a first person view of Santana’s double middle fingers.

Santana kicks him down and they get inside for the opening bell. Minard grabs Santana’s leg and the triangle dropkick puts Santana on the floor and we take a very early break. We come back with Santana hitting the Three Amigos, setting up a top rope splash for two. Jericho is right back with a knockdown into the Walls but Santana makes the rope. The rest of the Society tries to bring in the bat but Santana fights them down and hits a discus lariat for two. A Society distraction lets Jericho get in a low blow though and the Judas Effect finishes for Jericho at 8:58.

Rating: C+. They kept Santana strong here as there is no shame in losing to a much bigger star when said star has a five on one advantage. Santana and Ortiz continue to feel like they should be the breakout stars but it just hasn’t clicked yet. A singles match like this is a good start, but AEW needs to follow up on it. Also, ending this team feud already would be a good move because it has started to get old.

Post match the beatdown is on with Ortiz’s save being cut off almost immediately.

Samoa Joe is coming for Jay Lethal.

The Gunn Club has gifts for the Acclaimed: SCISSORS! Scissoring ensues. As long as it isn’t a running joke, they should be fine.

Here are the Varsity Blonds for a chat. Brian Pillman Jr. talks about how the team has gotten complacent, but that brings him to his father’s best friend (and college roommate), Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. John told him to attack every day, so that is what he is doing tonight. The House of Black is called out and here they come, with the House destroying the Blonds in short order.

Malakai Black comes over to Julia Hart and stares at her before she is handed a chair. Julia can’t bring herself to swing so Black rips the eye patch off….but here is the Death Triangle for the save. This went on WAY too long and we still didn’t actually have anything happen. Please just get to the Death Triangle vs. the House of Black already so we can move on to anything else.

Jade Cargill and the Baddies are ready to keep dominating.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Dante Martin vs. Rey Fenix

Julia Hart is still here as Fenix kicks Martin down to start. Martin is sent outside and we take an early break. Back with Fenix hitting a middle rope reverse Spanish Fly (kind of making it into a flipping Russian legsweep) but Martin kicks him down again. Commentary isn’t happy with how long Martin is taking to stay on Fenix, allowing Fenix to hurricanrana him to the floor. Back in and Fenix hits a pop up cutter for two, setting up another super reverse Spanish Fly. This time they both land on their feet, setting up Martin’s poisonrana. The Nosedive misses though and Fenix grabs an over the shoulder piledriver for the pin at 9:38.

Rating: B. This was more exciting than pretty much anything else on the show and they did exactly what you would have expected from them. They flew through the match with one big spot after another (meaning we didn’t need a break here) and that’s all they should have tried here. Fenix winning makes sense but Martin looked good in defeat. Very fun match and the kind of stuff you knew was coming when it was announced.

We finally have Owen Hart Foundation brackets:

Rey Fenix
Kyle O’Reilly

Samoa Joe
JOKER

Jeff Hardy
Darby Allin

Adam Cole
Dax Harwood

Darby Allin and Sting know Allin’s match with Jeff Hardy will be special.

Here is Thunder Rosa for a chat. Everyone has a story and they all have good and bad people. She is the undisputed Women’s Champion and has worked hard to get here. Now she is the boss of this division and wants the best competition in the world. She drove eight hours to see the wrestler who made her what she is today and calls out the #1 contender, Serena Deeb. Cue Deeb, who thinks they can make this the best women’s division in the entire world. Deeb says Rosa knows she is on another level and it is time for her to win the title to show the world. The title match is set for Double Or Nothing after a fairly stumbling exchange.

Here’s what’s coming up on various shows.

John Silver is ready for CM Punk next week.

Ring Of Honor Women’s Title: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mercedes Martinez

Champion vs. Interim Champion for the undisputed title. Feeling out process to start with neither of them being able to get very far. Purrazzo is looking frustrated early on as we take a break. Back with the forearm exchange with Purrazzo getting the better of things until a fisherman’s buster gives Martinez two. Purrazzo can’t get the Fujiwara armbar and it’s a double clothesline to put both of them down. The armbar is blocked again and this time Martinez pulls her into a surfboard dragon sleeper for the tap and the title at 10:38.

Rating: C-. I’m really not sure what to think of this, but these two were put in about as bad of a position as they could have been. Purrazzo is an Impact wrestler and Martinez, while in AEW, is hardly a regular. They were fighting over another company’s title in an AEW main event. In short, the fans came here to see AEW, not another company’s wrestler fighting for a third company’s title.

It was also an ice cold match as there was no hype for it on AEW TV and the limited promo time they had coming in was “I’m going to be the champ/No I’m going to be the champ”. The match might not have been great on its own, but they were put in a no win situation and the crowd being so eerily silent told you everything you needed to know about how this went.

Martinez celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This was not the strongest edition of Dynamite, as aside from the Fenix vs. Martin match and Page’s (short) promo, there wasn’t much to see. It felt like a show that was designed to fill in two hours with the main event in particular being a letdown. I wasn’t feeling this one, though odds are the NBA and NHL games are going to put a big hit in the audience. Maybe they took the week off as a result, but it didn’t make this much easier to get through. The good thing about AEW though: I have every reason to believe that this is a one off and not a downward trend, which is more than most companies can say.

Results
Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Fish – Swanton Bomb
Blackpool Combat Club b. AFO – Triangle choke to Angelico
Wardlow b. William Morrissey – Powerbomb
Chris Jericho b. Santana – Judas Effect
Rey Fenix b. Dante Martin – Over the shoulder piledriver
Mercedes Martinez b. Deonna Purrazzo – Dragon sleeper

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: April 27, 2022
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re back with another focus on the Owen Hart Foundation tournament as Dax Harwood faces Cash Wheeler. In addition to that, we won’t be see Hangman Page this week as he has come down with the Coronavirus, meaning that we don’t quite get any advancement in his feud with CM Punk. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler

CM Punk is on commentary and the guys come out together for a nice touch. They go to the mat to start as Punk talks about how he doesn’t necessarily like these guys but he does respect him. A series of headlocks takeovers are countered with a series of nip ups and we get a standoff with some applause. An armdrag into an armbar has Wheeler in control as commentary cracks some jokes about the wrestlers’ names.

Harwood pokes him in the eye though and Wheeler doesn’t seem happy. Wheeler takes it back to the mat for a quickly broken chinlock as Harwood takes him up top for a heck of a superplex. We take a break and come back with Harwood sending him flying off a suplex. They both hit crossbodies at the same time for a double knockdown before it’s off to an exchange of rollups for two each.

Harwood tries a slingshot powerbomb but gets reversed into a hurricanrana for two and they’re both needing a breather. The second slingshot powerbomb attempt works for Harwood but Wheeler is back with a piledriver. Harwood is able to catch him on top but Wheeler slips through the legs and pushes Harwood down.

The belly to back superplex is countered into a crossbody for two on Wheeler and a running crossbody sends them both to the floor. They both make it back inside at nine but Wheeler has a banged up knee. Harwood can’t bring himself to stay on the leg (Punk: “You gotta sharp that shooter!”), allowing Wheeler to try a small package, which is reversed into another one to give Harwood the pin at 14:26.

Rating: B. This was the kind of match you would expect from these two and Harwood wins with a wrestling move in the end. That’s all you could have asked for from these two and now they can go back to being the best team in the world. They teased just enough tension to make it interesting without going over the line and it was good quality stuff on top of that, just in case you didn’t think this would be pretty awesome.

Official for Double Or Nothing: CM Punk vs. Hangman Page for the World Title.

CM Punk heads to ringside and says he has never been in a locker room with as much talent as this before. Before he came back here, he wasn’t sure if he could still do this again. Now he knows that he can do this again and while he can’t guarantee a win, he can guarantee that he will give 100%. He has never been a gambling man, but you can bet that he will fight until the wheels fall off in Las Vegas.

Scorpio Sky says it is no coincidence that he is here, fighting for the TNT Title again. He didn’t ask Frankie Kazarian to step aside if he was going to win and the fans are here to see him beat up Scorpio Sky. There can only be one face of TNT and you’re looking at him.

Blackpool Combat Club vs. The Factory

Wheeler Yuta gets the hometown reaction and William Regal is on commentary. The Club has nothing to do with this waiting around and jumps them before the bell. Moxley hits the release suplex on Aaron Solow and hits a belly to belly suplex. Regal loves that Solow’s eyes are watering so Moxley can “batter the granny” out of him without him seeing it coming. Yuta comes in with a dropkick for two but doesn’t quite hit the one on Comoroto that well (Regal: “We’ll have to work on that.”).

We take a break and come back with Marshall making the mistake of mocking Danielson, allowing Yuta to snap off a German suplex. Danielson comes in to clean house, including the dive to the floor. There’s the missile dropkick to Solow but Marshall breaks up the LeBell Lock. Moxley takes Marshall down and clotheslines him to the floor, leaving Danielson to kick Solow out of the air. Yuta gets the tag but is thrown around by Comoroto. A pair of chokes doesn’t work on Comoroto so Yuta elbows away and rolls him up (with Moxley and Danielson choking out the other two) for the pin at 8:20.

Rating: C+. I think we’ve firmly established the idea here and now it’s time for these guys to move into an actual feud. The Club is a hard hitting team who feels like they could fight anyone, but they’ve been beating up lower level people for weeks now. They need to move into an actual story rather than a bunch of one offs, as their status is pretty clear. Maybe they can make one more of these things work, but find them some good opponents soon.

Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm are willing to just talk and avoid physicality but Storm brings in Ruby Soho, who has also qualified for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Soho knows the two of them have always had something to say so she wants to fight right now. Baker says no physicality because they’re off to Soho’s home in catering.

Jungle Boy says that he should have beaten Kyle O’Reilly last week but he didn’t get it done. Christian Cage says that Jungle Boy sounds like a loser, even if he isn’t one. Cage says he’s throwing out the challenge to any top five ranked team so here is Team Taz, ranked #3, to accept. Luchasaurus growls.

Lance Archer vs. Wardlow

Before the match, MJF and Shawn Spears are in the luxury box again, with MJF saying Philadelphia women use their personality as birth control. Wardlow comes out to no music and wearing handcuffs, allowing Archer to dive onto him as the handcuffs are removed. The bell rings and Wardlow sends him straight into the corner, setting up a running shoulder to the ribs. The Powerbomb Symphony is broken up, as is Archer’s chokeslam.

They clothesline each other down and it’s Archer up first to hammer away. Archer walks the ropes to set up a moonsault into the chokeslam for two, with the crowd not really reacting. The Blackout gets two but Wardlow knocks him off the top and hits a Swanton of all things for two of his own. A four movement Powerbomb Symphony finishes Archer at 5:26.

Rating: B-. The booking of Wardlow continues to be the high point around here and this was no exception. Wardlow survived a beating against someone with some success and won in the end to slay the monster. That’s all it should have been as he gets one step closer to MJF. Double Or Nothing is coming and I’m curious to see what the stakes will be for their showdown.

Here is the Jericho Appreciation Society for a face to face sitdown with Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz. There will be no physicality so get the three of them out here right now. The chairs are turned over and Jericho talks about how lucky everyone is to be living in his era. Santana flips Jericho off and says that Jericho forgot who got him here.

Trash is talked because Santana and Ortiz can’t hit them and Kingston isn’t happy with this standing around. Kingston talks about what a hit means in his world but Jericho says this place is Kingston’s last chance if he gets kicked out of another company. That’s too far for Kingston, who backs Jericho into a chair and threatens to put him in the ground. Jericho looks terrified as Eddie and company leave. They really need to announce/get to a match between these guys already because they’ve talked a lot.

Sammy Guevara is ready to beat Scorpio Sky again because Sky is so boring.

Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb

Street fight with Shida hammering away to start. The middle rope missile dropkick sends Deeb outside and then rams her into the buckle from the apron. Deeb falls back to the floor but manages to chair a flying Shida out of the air to take over. Back in and a shinbreaker onto the chair makes it worse for Shida as we take a break. We come back with Shida’s knee in big trouble but managing to counter another shinbreaker onto the chair. Deeb is sent outside but comes up with some powder to blind Shida.

That’s broken up as well as Shida comes back with a kendo stick shot, allowing her to wash her eyes out with some water. The Katana is cut off with a chair to the knee though and Deeb wraps the chair around Shida’s leg. That’s broken up as well and Shida hits the super Falcon Arrow for two. Deeb is back with Deebtox onto the chair for the same, setting up some rams of the knee into the chair. The Texas Cloverleaf makes Shida tap at 11:37.

Rating: B-. It was fun enough, though I don’t think it needed the weapons to prove the same point. This feud stopped being interesting more than a few weeks ago and I didn’t exactly need the blowoff but at least the right person won. Deeb gets the win to end the feud and should be on to a run against Thunder Rosa, which should be a good match.

MJF screams at Lexi to get out of his frame and then calls someone, offering him six figures to face Wardlow. He called someone bigger, taller and stronger than Wardlow….and you can’t teach that.

The House Of Black has taken out Fuego del Sol. They tease unmasking him but Alex Abrahantes pops up in the ring to say not so fast. The House goes after him but here is Penta Obscuro, Pac and…..Alex Abrahantes, because it’s Rey Fenix in the Abrahantes costume in the ring. Death Triangle clears the ring and we seem to have a six man tag set. This is another feud that has dragged on for so long now that I can’t quite bring myself to be interested. Also, it’s hard to care that much when I keep expecting Pac or one of the other members to go away for a month and a half after the match.

Swerve Strickland and Darby Allin are ready for their Owen Hart Foundation qualifying match on Rampage. They have fought for years and don’t quite see eye to eye on whose house it is.

Undisputed Elite vs. Varsity Blonds/Brock Anderson/Dante Martin/Lee Johnson

Martin gets punched in the head to start but the Blonds come in for the save. The non-Elite takes turns kicking everyone to the floor and it’s a pair of dives from Johnson and Martin. The good guys rule the ring and we take an early break. Back with Johnson getting double superkicked, setting up a four way BTE Trigger, setting up the Boom for the pin on Johnson at 6:27.

Rating: C. They hyped up this match as something important and then it’s a six minute match with a break in the middle? Kind of a weird way to go with this one but they didn’t bother with much of anything in the way of wasting time. Just have the bigger team take a few shots and then win in the end, as should have been the case. Now maybe we can move on to the most interesting thing in the world: the Bucks having friends.

Post match, the Undisputed Elite all put on matching shirts.

The Jericho Appreciation Society has jumped Santana and Ortiz and throw a fireball at Eddie Kingston. This company has an obsession with angles involving someone being blinded.

Quick video on Trent Beretta vs. Samoa Joe for the Ring Of Honor TV Title.

TNT Title: Sammy Guevara vs. Scorpio Sky

Guevara is defending in a ladder match. They fight on the floor to start with Sky sending him into the barricade but Guevara comes back with a Release German suplex on the ramp. That lets Guevara bust out some angels in the snow, which has JR a bit taken aback. They get inside with Sammy going up (nowhere near the belt) and then diving off….and hitting only the mat, leaving him knocked silly as we take a break.

Back with Sky climbing a ladder so Guevara dives off another, only to get pulled out of the air with a cutter. With nothing else working, it’s time to bring out a barbed wire ladder (because that’s a thing). Guevara fights up and sends Sky into the ladder but Tay Conti and Dan Lambert get in, with Conti kicking him low. Cue Paige VanZant so the big brawl can be on, with Conti kicking him in the face.

The ladder is set up and they both climb, each with a woman on their back. The women are thrown off, leaving Sky to bite Guevara’s finger. Guevara shoves him down anyway and goes up, only to be knocked down onto the barbed wire ladder. Sky goes up and, after knocking the springboarding Guevara down again (because he was back up in 12 seconds), wins the title at 14:02.

Rating: C+. This show ended about 20 minutes ago now and I have no idea what to make of this match. They certainly did some stuff and Sky gets the title back, but that’s about the extent of the logic. I was more or less checked out on the match as soon as the barbed wire ladder was brought into play, as that sounds like something you put in a comedy match rather than something important. Throw in Sammy bouncing back up from landing on it and the rather scary landing before the break and this was much more a WHAT ARE THEY DOING match than anything I would have liked to see.

Overall Rating: B-. Given how ridiculously (and I don’t mean that in a good way) stacked this show was, I was fairly disappointed in what we got. The ten man tag was a squash, the street fight was pretty good and the ladder match…..hey did you see that street fight? They crammed A LOT into this show but most of it only somewhat delivered.

There was some rather good stuff in here though as Wardlow continues to be presented perfectly and Sky winning the title again got a great reaction. I liked Punk’s stuff too and the opener was very good, but the parts that they hyped up the most didn’t work all that well and it brought things down a bit.

Results
Dax Harwood b. Cash Wheeler – Small package
Blackpool Combat Club b. The Factory – Cradle to Comoroto
Wardlow b. Lance Archer – Powerbomb Symphony
Serena Deeb b. Hikaru Shida – Texas Cloverleaf
Undisputed Elite b. Brock Anderson/Dante Martin/Lee Johnson/Varsity Blonds – Boom to Johnson
Scorpio Sky b. Sammy Guevara – Sky pulled down the title

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: April 20, 2022
Location: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

Battle Of The Belts has come and gone and now we should be on the way to Double Or Nothing in May. That means it should be time to start getting ready for the bigger pushes as the card hasn’t been set up so far. CM Punk gets to face Dustin Rhodes tonight so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dustin Rhodes vs. CM Punk

They shake hands to start and it’s a feeling out process to get things going. The fans are split as they go technical, with a headlock not getting either of them very far. Punk takes him to the mat and cranks on the leg a bit but Dustin is right back up with a wristlock. Some armdrags into an armbar slow Punk down but he sends Rhodes outside, where the knee is banged up. Back in and Punk stays on the leg with some elbows and kicks as we take a break.

We come back with Rhodes sending him outside and hitting some clotheslines. Nine right hands in the corner set up a double middle finger and the tenth punch, but Rhodes’ knee gives out as he comes back down. Punk misses the running knee in the corner though and Rhodes hits a Code Red for two. Back up and Punk goes to the knee again, setting up a Figure Four.

Some slaps get Rhodes out of trouble though and he turns the hold over to send Punk to the ropes for the break. Punk’s springboard clothesline is punched out of the air and the Cross Rhodes drops Punk again. A piledriver gives Rhodes two and they’re both down again. Back up and Rhodes hits some Flip, Flop and Fly but Punk kicks him in the head. The GTS is loaded up but Punk can’t lift him off the shoulders, instead going with a cradle for the pin at 17:24.

Rating: B. You could hear JR’s interest in a wrestling match here and that is a good thing. This didn’t have anything over the top or gimmicky and that is something that will always work. I don’t think there was any serious drama about Punk losing, but they told a story and had a perfectly enjoyable match as a result. Solid stuff here, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I don’t care about Dustin that much, but you have to respect what he is doing almost 34 years after debuting.

Post match Punk goes to leave as Hangman Page arrives, meaning a staredown ensues.

Wardlow arrived earlier today when Mark Sterling and some security met him at the door. Said security is going to escort him to the closet, the ring, and then back to the closet. Oh and he has to be handcuffed until his match start. Finally, MJF has left a message for him, calling him a pig. Wardlow: “Oink oink b****.”

Blackpool Combat Club vs. Brock Anderson/Dante Martin/Lee Moriarty

William Regal does some singing on commentary as Wheeler stomps away to start. We settle down to Martin getting up onto the top to avoid Danielson’s running knee in the corner. Some dropkicks stagger the Club and Anderson comes in with a clothesline to Moxley. A half and half suplex drops Anderson though and we take a break.

Back with Danielson and Moriarty exchanging chops until a quick suplex gives Moriarty two. The Border City Stretch has Danielson in trouble but he slips out and brings Martin back in to start the house cleaning. The Nose Dive takes a second too long due to a slip and Moxley pulls him into a choke. Moriarty kicks Moxley in the back for…well nothing actually, as Moxley says kick him again. The Club all strike away at the same time (cool visual) until the Paradigm Shift finishes Martin at 8:07.

Rating: C+. The Club dominated here and that is a fine way to go, as it isn’t like their opponents had much to lose. The visual of the Club beating on the other three at the same time was great and it showed you just how good they are at the same time. Other than that, this was your old school Saturday Night/Worldwide main event, with some bigger names beating up some people who are just a step above being squashed.

The Undisputed Elite talk about their recent losses and want to right the ship. Adam Cole likes the idea so next week it’s an open challenge ten man tag. Cole has to go take care of something though and leaves the other four there.

Video on Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/Satnam Singh. Joe is promising violence.

Tony Khan is here to announce the big announcement. He brings out the New Japan Pro Wrestling President but Adam Cole pops up on screen to announce that Forbidden Door, a New Japan/AEW supershow, will take place in Chicago on June 26. This Friday you’ll get a special preview with Cole vs. Tomohiro Ishii, but for now, Cole’s friend has something to say. Cue Jay White to say that the last time New Japan did something like this, he single handedly sold out Madison Square Garden. This is about the Undisputed Elite and Bullet Club because it’s still their era.

Jade Cargill and some of her Baddies (with popcorn) aren’t impressed by Marina Shafir, as Cargill is ready to be the Problem Solver to the Problem.

Butcher vs. Wardlow

Before the match, MJF and Shawn Spears (also eating popcorn, which he throws to the crowd) are in a sky box to insult the crowd and bring out Wardlow (still cuffed), sans music or pyro. The cuffs come off and they collide in the middle before trading shots to the face. Butcher bites his head and they head outside, where Wardlow won’t let him grab a chair. Instead Wardlow gets his back driven into the apron and they head back inside where Butcher hits his own powerbomb for one. That fires Wardlow up though and a four movement Powerbomb Symphony finishes Butcher at 4:14.

Rating: C+. That’s how it should have gone, as Wardlow hung in there and took everything a monster threw at him before winning in the end. It is another step towards Wardlow getting his hands on MJF as another hurdle is cleared, likely on the way to Double Or Nothing. Pretty good hoss fight here, but this was about having two bulls beat each other up and they did it like they should have.

Post match Wardlow is cuffed again and taken out.

Eddie Kingston wants to face Daniel Garcia with all of their friends out of the building. Everything he is going to do to Garcia is going to happen to Chris Jericho too, so be ready.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jungle Boy

They go technical to start and head to the mat with O’Reilly holding him down by the hands. Back up and a springboard wristdrag takes Jungle Boy down into the corner but he comes back with some strikes to the face. O’Reilly knees him in the face and rolls his butterfly suplexes into a swinging faceplant.

We take a break and come back with Jungle Boy kicking his way out of the corner. Some running forearms are cut off with a kick to the leg but Jungle Boy hits a springboard tornado DDT. A front chancery goes on but O’Reilly hits a suplex, only to get clotheslined down hard. O’Reilly’s charge into the corner is countered into an overhead belly to belly suplex and Jungle Boy unloads with right hands in the corner.

Some stomping in the Tree of Woe has O’Reilly down even more and there’s a sliding basement dropkick. They miss some kicks to the chest until Jungle Boy rolls him up for two. The kickout lets O’Reilly grab an ankle lock but Jungle Boy reverses into the Snare Trap, with O’Reilly having to crawl to the rope. O’Reilly is good enough to catch Jungle Boy on top and it’s a superplex into a brainbuster to plant Jungle Boy again. The top rope knee to the back gives O’Reilly the pin at 12:53.

Rating: B-. This went longer than I expected and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I would have bet on the Undisputed Elite continuing its slide but Jungle Boy got beat clean. It’s not a terrible thing to have a tag team wrestler lose to someone with a lot more singles success, but I’m curious to see where this goes. Good action here though, as they allowed talented wrestlers to take their time and do something.

Post match a somewhat disappointed Christian Cage comes out to walk Jungle Boy to the back.

MJF doesn’t want to hear about Butcher losing because he has another plan. He hands Jake Roberts an envelope full of money as he seems to have rented Lance Archer. Roberts goes into a weird rant about how Wardlow needs to lie like he did when he was a kid, but Archer just wants to beat up Wardlow.

Hook vs. Anthony Henry

The fans like Hook, who starts fast with the release northern lights suplex. A running clothesline to the back of the head sets up some crossface shots but here is Danhausen to curse Hook again. It matters not as Hook Redrums Henry for the tap at 1:19. Simple and to the point again.

Post match Danhausen gets in the ring because he has had it with Hook embarrassing him. If Hook doesn’t want to be cursed by Danhausen, Hook will FIGHT DANHAUSEN! A poke to the chest annoys Hook, who walks past Danhausen without hurting him.

Frankie Kazarian wants to challenge Sammy Guevara but Scorpio Sky comes in. Sky thanks Kazarian for helping him get this far and now he needs one more favor: let Sky face Guevara first. Kazarian says he has always had Sky’s back and he always will, so the deal seems to be made. Sky coming in to surprise Kazarian would have been more impactful if Excalibur hadn’t said we were going to the back to Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky.

Thunder Rosa wants the most experienced and best challengers she can find. Now it is time to go double or nothing.

Here are Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti for a chat. Sammy thanks the fans for their support but not the ones who turned their backs on them in the first. Are they mad because his girlfriend is hotter than theirs? Those fans’ only option is to, said together, BE MAD. Cue the Men of the Year, with Ethan Page going on a rant about how Dan Lambert isn’t allowing the two of them to come to the ring and beat him into a bloody pulp.

Lambert talks about how youth is wasted on the young like Guevara. Now give Sky the rematch he wants or Page and Sky will come to the ring and give Sammy the pounding Conti dreams about. Guevara agrees to the match if they can have the mixed tag match they want (opponents not specified). Sky vs. Guevara is on next week….and it’s a ladder match, because we have gone a few weeks since the last one.

The House of Black says people have flown too close to the sun so next week, the sun dies.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Danielle Kamela vs. Britt Baker

Baker comes out with some Pittsburgh Steelers to make JR happy and Kamela is better known as Vanessa Borne from NXT. Baker takes her to the mat to start and seems rather pleased as we take an early break. Back with Kamela waving the Terrible Towel, which doesn’t sit well with Baker. Kamela gets hammered down and it’s a Stomp into the Lockjaw, complete with a Pittsburgh Steelers glove, to give Baker the win at 6:13.

Rating: C. This was about getting Baker out there in front of the Pittsburgh crowd, who loved every single thing she did. They didn’t bother trying to make her anything resembling a villain as there wouldn’t have been a point. What we got was a squash (which didn’t need the break) and Baker looking like a killer on her way into a likely deep run in the tournament.

Post match Baker grabs the mic and runs down the rest of the women’s division, especially Toni Storm and Jade Cargill. As for the Baddies, sit down because she is the baddest b**** on the block and will be winning this tournament. Baker had the crowd in her hand and she knew it.

Video on Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb, which will be taking place in a street fight next week.

Excalibur shows amazing lung capacity by running down upcoming matches, including FTR exploding in an Owen Hart Foundation qualifying match.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin

Coffin match and the AFO is here with Andrade. The numbers game doesn’t take long to stat as Allin gets stomped down but he manages some skateboard shots. Andrade hits him in the back with the skateboard though and they fight into the crowd. Marq Quen rips up a Sting sign….which is held by a disguised Sting, who helps beat up the rest of the AFO. Good thing they came into that part of the crowd and Quen went after him, or Allin would have been kind of screwed.

They go into the balcony where Sting gets chaired in the back, only to pop up and dive off the balcony onto a pile of people. We take a break and come back with Allin getting suplexed on the floor before being knocked into the open casket. That means we get to see the thumbtacks under the lid (because of course) with Allin sacrificing his own arm to avoid being closed in.

Andrade powers him up with a suplex onto the ramp and looks down at a metal grate. That means a toss suplex onto the grate and Andrade takes him back to the ring, where the referee tells them 90 seconds. Allin manages a flipping Stunner to send Andrade throat first onto the top, setting up a suicide elbow to drive them both into the coffin. The tacked lid is slammed onto Andrade but here is Jose to stop the lid from being closed. Jose gets backdropped onto the lid and another slam of said lid onto Andrade is enough to give Allin the win at 12:17.

Rating: B-. There was a lot going on here and some of it probably could have been cut out to let things flow a bit better. That being said, I’ll take Allin winning the feud, hopefully once and for all, as this has gone on long enough. Allin needed a win after not doing much in recent weeks, though I have no idea where he goes from here. Maybe the Owen Hart Tournament, but is that all that interesting for him?

Sting comes out to celebrate and the Hardys appear to do the DELETE pose on the stage to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Solid enough show here and they’re making me wonder where some of these things are going. Teasing Hangman vs. Punk instantly makes things more interesting, though I’m going to need a lot from Hangman to make me buy into the whole thing. Other than that, you had had some good action here, even if this felt more like the show that sets up the bigger shows. You need those every now and then though and it worked well this week.

Results
CM Punk b. Dustin Rhodes – Rollup
Blackpool Combat Club b. Lee Moriarty/Dante Martin/Brock Anderson – Paradigm Shift to Martin
Wardlow b. Butcher – Powerbomb Symphony
Kyle O’Reilly b. Jungle Boy – Top rope knee to the back
Hook b. Anthony Henry – Redrum
Britt Baker b. Danielle Kamela – Lockjaw
Darby Allin b. Andrade El Idolo – Allin shut El Idolo in the coffin

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: April 13, 2022
Location: UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

It’s the start of a big week around here as we are on the third of five shows. There are some important matches set up for this card and there is a good chance that we could be in for a fun one. If nothing else, they are coming in off a white hot main event last week so hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

CM Punk vs. Penta Obscuro

Alex Abrahantes is here with Penta. Punk isn’t overly intimidated by Obscuro’s entrance and they stare each other down to start. That goes into the big chop off, with the fans getting right into this as soon as they get going. A superkick staggers Punk but he kicks Penta in the ribs to cut him off. Punk strikes away as commentary runs down tonight’s card, including Samoa Joe vs. Minoru Suzuki. The GTS is countered into an ankle lock and Punk gets sent to the floor. Some suicide dives take too long though and Punk takes his place, setting up a dive of his own.

We take a break and come back with both of them going up to the same corner. Punk pulls him down into….something that wasn’t clear as his knee seems to give out. Penta takes him into the corner but Punk comes out with a super hurricanrana, setting up the running knee in the corner. The GTS is countered so Punk tries the Anaconda Vice, sending Penta straight to the rope.

They head to the apron to slug it out but neither can hit a piledriver. Instead Punk hits the running knee in the corner back inside, only to have the GTS blocked. The arm snap is countered into a rollup but that’s countered into another rollup to give Penta two. Another superkick rocks Punk but he’s fine enough to pull Penta out of the air for the GTS and the pin at 13:33.

Rating: B. They worked hard here and the ending was good, though it felt a bit like a match you would see on a big time indy show: no real reason for them to be fighting, but it makes fans go “that sounds AWESOME”. It was good while it lasted though and Punk continues his climb up to the top of the rankings. I’m sure the path will be completely scientific and logical as well.

The Jericho Appreciation Society arrived at the airport earlier but Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz were waiting on them. They beat up 3.0 and took their shoes, as good guys tend to do.

Tag Team Titles: ReDRagon vs. Jurassic Express

Jurassic Express is defending. Jungle Boy gets struck into the corner by Fish, allowing O’Reilly to come in for a headlock. Luchasaurus tags himself in and starts kicking away, only to get caught with some dragon screw legwhips. That’s enough to put Luchasaurus in the corner but he strikes his way out of trouble, allowing the tag off to Jungle Boy.

The suicide dives are on (JR: “It’s Tope Suicida Night folks! And the kids eat free!”), setting up Luchasaurus hitting his own dive. Jungle Boy goes for a dive but Fish isn’t quite ready and has to move over in a hurry (that could have been nasty). Fish twists Jungle Boy off the apron by the arm though and we take a break.

Back with O’Reilly trying a cross armbreaker on Jungle Boy but getting stacked up for two instead. Jungle Boy gets over for the tag off to Luchasaurus to clean house, including the Tail Whip to O’Reilly. There’s the double chokeslam into the standing moonsault for two on O’Reilly. A side slam top rope elbow combination (that looked good) gets two on Fish but ReDRagon is back in for a kick off into a German suplex.

O’Reilly grabs a cross armbreaker (while also trapping the leg) but Jungle Boy makes the rope. Back up and O’Reilly grabs a guillotine on Luchasaurus as Fish jumps over them with a super Falcon Arrow to Jungle Boy. Luchasaurus throws O’Reilly onto the two of them for the break and it’s time to strike it out again. Fish gets Tail Whipped by Luchasaurus and it’s the Throwassic Express for the pin to retain the titles at 13:45.

Rating: B. This was back into the “what’s tagging” formula for the most part and I can with with that after last week’s tag team clinic main event. Jurassic Express getting to add another win to their list is a good idea, but those titles seem destined either for FTR or the Young Bucks to set up the rubber match between the bigger name teams.

Post match O’Reilly chairs the champs down but FTR comes in to scare them off. I think you know where FTR and the Express are going.

The Blackpool Combat Club, now with Wheeler Yuta, are ready to fight the undisputed Gunn Club on Friday. Moxley’s idea: break their faces.

Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm are ready to face each other in the first round of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Hayter talks about their history together and how it was a lot like Owen’s rise to prominent. She isn’t going to let Storm slow her down and asks what Storm is going to do about it. Storm smirks and walks away.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Shawn Dean

Shawn Spears is here with MJF. Hold on though as MJF’s scarf gets caught in his jacket, but he jumps Dean from behind anyway. And yes, the scarf is completely fine in case you were wondering. MJF poses but we cut to the back where security has been taken out, with one of them missing a shirt. Back in the arena and MJF takes him to the floor, but Wardlow is behind MJF. The chase is on and security comes out to hold Wardlow back. MJF runs and, despite offering the referee a lot of money, loses by countout at 3:54.

Rating: D. This was a match in name only and that is ok. They are building up towards Wardlow vs. MJF even more and it is nice to see Dean getting some wins, even if they don’t mean anything. MJF begging at the idea of losing makes sense as he is that obsessed with being the best, so they had the logic going strong here. Not a match for the most part but they weren’t trying to make it one.

Post match Wardlow is taken to the back and Spears has to hold MJF back from fighting the referee. We cut to the back where Wardlow beats up security again and says he isn’t going to stop until MJF lets him out of his contract. Then he breaks the camera, which will somehow go on MJF’s bill.

In a video that is a bit more complicated for its message, Darby Allin challenges Andrade El Idolo to a casket match.

Malakai Black talks about how the House of Black is going to destroy Fuego del Sol.

Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz

Jericho flips Santana off to start and then hits him in the face, only to get himself into a chop off. Everything breaks down and Santana gets to beat on Jericho a bit more inside. It’s off to Ortiz, who gets caught in a double flapjack from Jericho and Hager to put him down for a change. Hager drives him into the corner again and it’s Garcia getting to come in for some shots of his own. Jericho gets the arrogant cover for two and we take a break.

Back with Jericho missing the Lionsault and, after getting away from Hager, Ortiz manages the hot tag off to Kingston. House is cleaned without much trouble and Santana comes in with a top rope splash for two on Garcia. Ortiz’s middle rope legdrop gets the same and the Street Sweeper is loaded up. Instead, Santana throws Garcia at Jericho to take him out. Cue 3.0 (still missing shoes) but Ortiz hits a big flip dive to take them down. The distraction lets Jericho get in a bat shot to finish Kingston at 11:45.

Rating: C+. It’s far from a disaster, but I’m really not feeling the Society so far. They feel like a rehash of the Inner Circle but nowhere near as good. It’s more of Jericho getting beaten up and then cheating to win, which is a pretty tired style. The match was good enough, but it feels like we’ve done this before and that isn’t great to see.

Post match the big beatdown is on and no one makes the save.

A very angry MJF talks about how he has money and can do whatever he wants. Also, since he owns Wardlow, he’s going to put Wardlow into the ring against the Butcher.

Marina Shafir vs. Skye Blue

This is Shafir’s Dynamite debut and Mark Sterling/Jade Cargill are watching in the back (Sterling more than Cargill). Shafir takes her down to start as we see Red Velvet as part of the Baddie Section. Blue’s attempt at a choke is countered into a bearhug and a slam down. Shafir pounds away and hits a pumphandle suplex. A palm strike sets up a headscissors choke to make Blue tap at 2:22. Shafir really didn’t look good here and they weren’t exactly mixing well. I don’t know what was wrong, but if this was anything more than an off night, Shafir is in trouble.

Tony Nese and Mark Sterling (third segment in a row after MJF and Cargill) interrupt Hook’s interview. Hook throws a medicine ball over his shoulder, hits an interrupting Danhausen, and leaves. Danhausen continues to be unsure what is going on.

The Men of the Year are ready for Sammy Guevara at Battle of the Belts on Saturday.

Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee vs. Team Taz

The fans are way into Ricky Starks as the hometown boy. Powerhouse Hobbs shoves Strickland around to start and doesn’t seem happy at Swerve trying an armbar. JR uses this time to talk about Mid-South/UWF memories and it’s off to Starks to run the ropes into a rope walk. A top rope shot to the shoulder drops Strickland and Starks hits his pose. It’s off to Lee, who sends Starks into the corner for the big chop, with Strickland holding the arms back to make it worse.

Everything breaks down and Strickland uses Lee’s chest as a springboard for a moonsault down onto Team Taz. We take a break and come back with Lee cleaning house. Swerve takes Hobbs off the apron but springboards into a spear from Starks. A Canadian Destroyer plants Swerve for two but he is right back up to put Starks in a fireman’s carry. Swerve goes up and throws Starks into the Pounce from Lee, who is cut off by Hobbs.

Cue Taz at ringside as Starks can’t Ro Sham Bo Lee. Swerve gets shoved off the top but manages to post Hobbs. Starks’ tornado DDT is blocked so he settles for a middle rope spear. Swerve breaks up the cover with a 450 but gets crushed by a running splash in the corner. Taz trips Lee though and the Last Will And Testament finishes Lee at 11:58.

Rating: C+. You build up Starks as the big star and don’t have him get the pin in the match? Anyway, they weren’t going to be able to get Starks booed here no matter what they tried so they didn’t even bother. That’s the right call here and Lee lost to cheating rather than clean. They did things as they should have here and it was a pretty hot match.

Here’s what’s coming at various upcoming shows.

Thunder Rosa is interrupted by Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero. They have a cake to celebrate her short title reign but there is no writing on it because she isn’t worth they money. Rosa: “Do you think I’m stupid?” Vickie and Nyla: “YES!” The cake goes in Rosa’s face and she’s so blind that she hits Vickie by mistake. Rosa gets sent into some boxes, with Rose shouting that the joke is on Rosa because she loves cake! This was pretty great.

Video on Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole in a Texas Deathmatch this week on Rampage.

Ring Of Honor TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Minoru Suzuki

Suzuki is defending and they go straight to the required strike off. This includes chops and forearms for two minutes plus until Suzuki gets knocked to the apron. The armbar over the ropes slows Joe down and we take a break with Joe looking to be more than a bit spent pretty soon into things.

Back with Suzuki fighting out of a Crossface as Joe’s chest is REALLY red. The Gotch Style piledriver is blocked and the chop it out again. Another piledriver attempt is blocked so Suzuki takes him into the corner for some choking. That’s countered into the MuscleBuster to knock Suzuki silly and Joe is champion at 11:34.

Rating: B-. This is going to be the definition of “your mileage may vary” as the chop/strike off stuff loses its charm pretty quickly (the fact that Penta and Punk did the same thing an hour and a half ago didn’t help). They kept this moving and it’s hard to believe that it went as long as it did, but Suzuki was the definition of a transitional champion. That isn’t a bad thing, but this one felt a lot more like something that sounded great on paper fifteen years ago rather than here, with both of them likely near the end of their careers.

Post match here are Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt with a present for Joe. It’s Lethal’s middle finger, but the lights go out. Cue a 7’3 monster (identified by Tony as Satnam Singh, an Indian basketball player who was drafted into the NBA) to take Joe down and crush his head in a Khali style vice grip. Lethal and Dutt seem to have a monster enforcer to end the show. I don’t know how the STUPENDOUS Khali will do but this wasn’t exactly an inspiring debut.

Overall Rating: B-. It was a weird week as they started off great and then fell pretty hard before almost limping across the finish line. The Singh debut didn’t exactly leave on a high note and the show was a bit of a rollercoaster. It doesn’t feel like there is a top story at the moment and the World Title was a complete afterthought this week. Still a perfectly good show, but far from one of their best.

Results
CM Punk b. Penta Obscuro – GTS
Jurassic Express b. ReDRagon – Throwassic Express to Fish
Shawn Dean b. Maxwell Jacob Friedman via countout
Jericho Appreciation Society b. Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz – Baseball bat shot to Kingston
Marina Shafir b. Skye Blue – Headscissors choke
Team Taz b. Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland – Last Will And Testament to Lee
Samoa Joe b. Minoru Suzuki – MuscleBuster

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: April 6, 2022
Location: Agganis Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, Excalibur

It’s pretty rare to have a lot of things going on when a company hasn’t had a major show, but that is the case this week. Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor event was basically AEW’s Wrestlemania weekend show and included the debut of Samoa Joe. He’ll be here tonight, and that means things could get a lot more interesting. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Adam Cole vs. Christian Cage

They stare at each other for a bit until Christian grabs a headlock to grind away a bit. Cole breaks that up and sends him into the corner to take over. Christian knocks him outside though and it’s a baseball slide out to the floor. That means some chops up against the barricade but Christian’s foot gets caught in the ropes, allowing Cole to take over again. A hard whip into the corner rocks Christian and we take a break.

Back with Christian knocking him to the floor again and diving over the top to….I think it connected but it was more grazing Cole’s hands/arms. Back in and Christian hits the pendulum kick in the corner, setting up the tornado DDT for two. Cole’s Backstabber out of the corner gets two more and the low superkick into the running knee (knee pad still up and to the face instead of the back of the head) is good for the same. The Boom is countered into a rollup for two, followed by Christian hitting a spear for two more. With nothing else working, Cole pokes him in the eye and hits the Boom for the pin at 14:50.

Rating: B-. This is where Christian can help a lot, as he has a reputation that means a win over him still means something and can make anyone look good. Cole gets a nice win and Christian has been a made man for a long time so it isn’t like he is hurt here. Good choice for an opener and the kind of win that gives Cole an actually important win.

Post match ReDDragon comes out for the beatdown but the Jurassic Express makes the save. Christian walks off to the side of the stage as the other four brawl (After rolling outside pretty fast after the pin. Hopefully nothing is wrong.). With everyone else gone, Hangman Page comes down to get in Cole’s face. Page issues the challenge for a Texas Death Match for the title next week on Rampage (not Dynamite), while telling him to get his affairs in order.

We look back at Jay Lethal challenging Jonathan Gresham for the World Title and beating him down, only for Samoa Joe to return and take out Lethal’s associate Sonjay Dutt.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Samoa Joe vs. Max Caster

Anthony Bowens is here with Caster, whose rap talks about how Samoa Joe is an overweight X-Division wrestler who was NXT Champion when Dynamite beat NXT in the ratings. Joe starts fast and hammers away in the corner, even throwing in a dance. Caster gets knocked to the floor for the suicide dive and it’s the MuscleBuster for the pin at 2:53. Total and complete destruction, as it should have been.

Post match Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt pop up on screen to say they aren’t scared of Joe. They had a change of heart last week and now it’s about doing what they want. The might not have needed one had Joe just answered his phone in the last four months. Joe clearly has a phone, but he’ll only answer calls from billionaires. It’s not too late to roll out the red carpet for Joe though, so next week Lethal promises him a present. Next week, Joe is getting a present that he’ll never forget. Dutt is quite the odd addition to this story. I know he and Lethal have history together but there was no one else to pair up with Lethal?

William Regal is happy with the Blackpool Combat Club, as Wheeler Yuta will face Jon Moxley on Friday. Regal feels sorry for Yuta, and Moxley promises violence.

Shawn Spears vs. Shawn Dean

MJF is on commentary as commentary points out that Dean has beaten him. Spears throws Dean over the top for a big crash, only to stop and point at the security posters for Wardlow. Back in and Spears hits a pumphandle driver onto the knee for two, with Spears pulling him up. We cut to the back where security has been taken out and the fans know what’s up. Now we see Wardlow beating up security and coming into the arena, where he beats up even more security. In the melee, Dean rolls Spears up for the pin at 3:48.

Rating: C-. The match was a squash with a fluke ending and that’s fine as a way to keep pushing Wardlow as a major threat to MJF. The destruction is coming and it is going to be awesome once we get there. Dean could have been anyone here but giving him a pair of wins over Dean and MJF is a nice bit of continuity.

Wardlow is very happy as security takes him out of the arena.

The Best Friends aren’t happy with Wheeler Yuta finding new friends. Chuck Taylor even bought him his tights and Yuta lives on his couch. Trent is less forgiving, calling him a scumbag before leaving.

Earlier tonight, Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz beat down the Jericho Appreciation Society in the back. The Society bailed away in a car.

Here are Kingston/Santana/Ortiz in the arena for a chat. Eddie talks about how he’s coming for the Society and threatens to show up at Daniel Garcia’s door. Santana and Ortiz say they’ll be ready when Jericho stops running, say next week for example.

Here are Jade Cargill and Mark Sterling for a chat. Cargill introduces her Baddie Section, which is what she describes as a bunch of beautiful women with power. She’s ready for Marina Shafir to be her 30th victim.

MJF and Shawn Spears aren’t happy with Wardlow but MJF promises more security next week. As for Dean, he can face MJF next week, where he’ll get a Purple Heart for being injured worse than he ever could have been in the military.

Hardys vs. Butcher and the Blade

Tables match. It’s a brawl to start with Blade clotheslining Jeff down inside. Blade misses a charge through a table in the corner, which doesn’t count as it wasn’t an offensive move (as made clear by the pre-match announcement of the rules). Butcher and Matt come in, where Butcher can’t suplex Matt through a table. A double DDT drops Butcher but Blade breaks up what looked to be the Swanton through the table. That leaves Jeff to get suplexed/high crossbodied through a table for the elimination.

We take a break and come back with Matt chairing Butcher, setting up a top rope legdrop through the table for the elimination. That leaves Matt vs. Blade but Matt puts himself through a table off the apron. Butcher sticks around to help double team Matt, who is thrown over the barricade.

A double suplex brings him back over but Jeff has moved the table. What looks to be Poetry In Motion into a clothesline against the barricade doesn’t look great so Jeff makes up for it with the Twisting Stunner to Blade. Matt hits a Twist of Fate on the floor and the Hardys set up two tables underneath a ladder (you knew it was coming). The Swanton off the top drives Blade through the table to give the Hardys the win at 11:55.

Rating: C+. It was pretty good, though I’m trying to get my head around the Hardys being hyped up for their history in tables matches. The Hardys are certainly stars, but it doesn’t feel like they are a big deal at the moment. Maybe that’s FTR being on another level and the Hardys not being anywhere the title picture, but it feels like they’re still waiting to take off. They certainly can do that, though it hasn’t happened yet.

Post match here is Andrade, flanked by the AFO, but here is sting with the baseball bat to beat them down. The AFO didn’t do anything, so maybe Sting just broke up the presentation of a lovely bowling trophy.

Christian Cage is ticked off and walks away from Jurassic Express’ interview. The Express doesn’t think much of ReDDragon’s records but they can have a title shot next week anyway.

Thunder Rosa is ready for Nyla Rose at Championship Fight Night on April 16.

Jamie Hayter isn’t shaking Toni Storm’s hand because she wants to win the Owen Hart tournament.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Hikaru Shida vs. Julia Hart

Hart still has the eye patch and sends the Varsity Blonds to the back. Hart gets in a shot in the corner which has Shida mad as we take an early break. Back with Shida pounding away and hitting a running knee in the corner. Hart rakes the eyes to get off of Shida’s shoulders though and a splits bulldog gets two. What looked to be Twisted Bliss only has Hart’s knees hitting the mat though and Shida elbows her down. Shida hits a spinning knee though and the Falcon Arrow is good for the pin at 7:40.

Rating: D+. Yozwa this didn’t work very well, as they felt like they were on different pages at times. The moves weren’t connecting very well, they didn’t seem to be communicating and it was just awkward throughout. It’s rare to see a match go this badly in AEW but this was a pretty bad showing.

Post match Serena Deeb comes out for a kendo stick/chair showdown with Shida before bailing. This feud MUST CONTINUE you see.

Shane Strickland had a good time at the Grammys but here is Team Taz to jump him. Keith Lee makes the save and drives Powerhouse Hobbs through a wall.

AAA Tag Team Titles/Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles: FTR vs. Young Bucks

The Bucks are challenging. Harwood headlocks Matt down to start and it’s off to Dax to do the same to Nick. An armdrag into an armbar keeps Nick down but everyone comes in for the big staredown. We settle down to Dax taking Matt down with a headlock, setting up double Sharpshooters from FTR. Nick rakes the Wheeler’s eyes for the break and it’s Matt hitting a middle rope elbow on Wheeler.

The Bret Hart pose sets up the tag off to Nick and we take a break. Back with Wheeler suplexing his way out of trouble but Matt cuts off the tag attempt. Harwood Matt outside though and kicks his way over for the tag off to Harwood. House is cleaned with Harwood chopping away in the corner and getting two off a small package. Matt’s backslide (with Harwood’s shoulder not on the mat) gets two, as does Harwood’s piledriver. The PowerPlex is loaded up but Nick cuts off Wheeler with a super hurricanrana.

A dropkick/bulldog combination connects but Harwood brainbusters Nick on the floor. Wheeler Gory Bombs Matt for two but what looks like a low blow takes Wheeler down. The Big Rig gets two on Wheeler and More Bang For Your Buck connects for the same. Nick gets in a belt shot for two more on Wheeler but Harwood dives in for the save.

There’s a double superkick to Harwood and the BTE Trigger gets….a Dusty Finish, as Wheeler gets his foot on the ropes just before three, meaning the pin is called off. The Meltzer Driver is loaded up but Harwood makes the save, setting up a slingshot powerbomb to Matt. The Tombstone plants Matt and, after the double kiss, the Big Rig retains the titles at 20:00.

Rating: A. This is what you can get when you tone the Bucks down. Two superkicks, one or two flips. It was much, much better than their usual stuff and a high quality match instead of their usual junk food wrestling. The Bucks are very impressive athletes, but there are times where they want to remind you of that a bit too much. Have someone to keep them on more of a leash and you get an instant classic like this.

At the same time, FTR can do absolutely no wrong at the moment. They did this in NXT and they are doing it in AEW. These guys are just great and are becoming must see television. That isn’t something that has been the case in tag wrestling since probably Edge and Christian vs. the Hardys vs. the Dudleyz and that was 20+ years ago. Awesome stuff here and absolutely worth seeing.

Overall Rating: B+. The main event absolutely lifted this show up as, aside from maybe the opener, it wasn’t exactly great. This was the week where they moved things forward for later though and you can see a lot of what they are going for at the next Battle of the Belts. FTR is an amazing team at the moment though and that’s about all you need to remember from this show. Check out that main event for sure.

Results
Adam Cole b. Christian Cage – Boom
Samoa Joe b. Max Caster – MuscleBuster
Shawn Dean b. Shawn Spears – Rollup
Hardys b. Butcher and the Blade – Swanton Bomb through a table to Blade
Hikaru Shida b. Julia Hart – Falcon Arrow
FTR b. Young Bucks – Big Rig to Matt

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: March 30, 2022
Location: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re still on the long road to Double Or Nothing and that means there are some things that need to get ready before then. It seems that we will be seeing Adam Cole vs. Hangman Page II either on the way there or at the show itself, meaning there is a good chance we’ll see more of the build here this week. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

CM Punk vs. Max Caster

Caster’s rap goes straight to the Will Smith reference and throws in a Hunter Biden line, plus a reference to Punk’s issues with Z-Paks. Anthony Bowens is here with Caster as Punk works on Caster’s taped up shoulder to start. Punk takes him down by the arm but it’s too early for the Anaconda Vice. Back up and Punk’s headlock doesn’t last long so he shoulders Caster down and grabs the armbar again. Caster gets in a shot of his own but Punk flips over the corner and runs the apron to set up a top rope ax handle.

Back up and Caster hits him in the neck, setting up a fisherman’s buster for two. Punk catches him on top though and it’s a super hurricanrana to bring him back down. There’s a running knee into the bulldog out of the corner for two more and they’re both down. Caster drops him ribs first across the top rope but the Mic Drop misses. Punk goes big with the piledriver out of nowhere and the Anaconda Vice finishes Caster at 7:09.

Rating: C+. I for one could go for more of Punk facing off with these tag wrestlers as he is getting them to much higher levels than they would be reaching on their own. Caster had probably his best singles match ever and hung in there for a bit against Punk before getting caught by the bigger star. Good enough match and Punk broke a sweat to make it look like he put in the work. Nice opener.

Post match Tony Schiavone gets in the ring for a chat with Punk, who asks the fans what motioning for the belt means. There is a lot of gray in his beard and there are scars on his head and there will be a lot more of both before he is done around here. He wants to be World Champion and it doesn’t matter who has the gold because he is coming for it.

FTR (in Outsiders inspired vests) and MJF are in the back. Mark Sterling is behind them putting up security photos of Wardlow, because he isn’t allowed around here. MJF talks about how the Pinnacle is still around and they’re going to be picking up some wins. Dash Harwood isn’t sure what is going on with MJF and Wardlow, but MJF says they’re family. Everyone’s hands go in.

Jay Lethal vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is now in a Blackpool Combat Club hoodie to make the team name official. After a handshake to start, Moxley takes him down with a headlock takeover. That’s reversed into a failed Figure Four attempt and Moxley sends him outside. That doesn’t last long so Moxley comes inside and puts his hands behind his back so Lethal can get in some cheap shots. The forearms off goes to Moxley so he loads up the top rope superplex, only to get crotched back down. Lethal scores with the suicide dive into the barricade and we take a break.

Back with a double crossbody putting both of them down for a bit. They strike it out until Moxley blasts him with a clothesline for a delayed two. Lethal grabs the Lethal Combination for two but Lethal is able to try the Paradigm Shift. The knee gives out though and Lethal tries the Lethal Injection, which is reversed into a sleeper. A flip over into a cover gives Lethal two and he’s back with a brainbuster. Hail To The King gives Lethal two but Moxley small packages him for the save. Back up and Moxley manages a quick Paradigm Shift for the pin at 10:59.

Rating: B. They went a bit heavy with the forearms here but this was rolling by the end. Lethal is in that place where him pulling off the upset isn’t the craziest thing in the world and that gave the match some additional drama. I could go for more of Lethal in roles like this as he can have a good match with almost anyone, including a game Moxley. Pretty nice stuff here.

Post match an upset Lethal shakes Moxley’s hand.

Video on Marina Shafir.

FTR vs. Gunn Club

Non-title. Billy Gunn is here with the Club and MJF comes out to do commentary, which FTR doesn’t seem to like. Harwood puts Austin in a top wristlock to start but gets thrown down. Colton comes in instead so the Club can do their gun sound effects. Austin hammers on Wheeler in the corner but gets armdragged down for his efforts. Some chops set up a running elbow drop from Harwood for two. Everyone winds up outside and Billy Gunn gets in a cheap shot on Wheeler so the Club can take over.

We take a break and come back with Wheeler flipping out of a sleeper and hitting a belly to back suplex. Wheeler gets sent into the corner though and it’s a Stinger Splash followed by a dropkick for two. That’s enough for Wheeler, who gets over for the tag off to Harwood to clean house on both Gunns. Austin and Harwood fight over a suplex on the apron until Colton trips the leg.

The Bobby Heenan pin doesn’t work but let’s cut to Wardlow storming into the arena and beating up security. This includes powerbombing a security guard onto (but not through) a table and coming into the arena. Security manages to hold Wardlow back, much to MJF’s relief, and we cut back to the match (Yeah remember that?) where Harwood and Billy get in a staredown. Wheeler jumps over Austin to take Billy down and the Big Rig gives Harwood the pin at 9:08.

Rating: C. This was more about Wardlow vs. MJF and FTR getting sick of the whole thing. That has potential for the future and I’m not sure how much longer FTR is going to put up with him. They’re practically good guys already and the fans are happy with them, but they still need that big moment. You also had the Club, who have come a long way sine I was rolling my eyes at them week after week on Dark.

Post match MJF gets in the ring but FTR really isn’t pleased with him. They eventually let him raise their hands and leave without getting violent though.

Video on Keith Lee vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, with Hobbs saying “you can bask in kissing my a**”.

Chris Jericho, with the Jericho Appreciation Society, says everyone wants to join the Jericho Appreciation Society but there are only five of them so everyone else can GFY. Matt looks for Santana/Ortiz/Eddie Kingston but can’t find them because they’re gone. Hager goes to do the same…..and there they are behind a curtain! The brawl goes out to the arena with the Society getting beaten down until Hager fights back and turns the tide. Kingston gets put in a Sharpshooter and Jericho unloads on him with Floyd the baseball bat. Jericho throws in some leather strap shots so the Society can stand tall.

Mark Sterling has picked Leva Bates as Jade Cargill’s thirtieth opponent but that’s not cool with Cargill. That leaves Sterling to pick Marina Shafir, which works for the unworried Cargill.

Bryan Danielson vs. Wheeler Yuta

William Regal is on commentary. Danielson grabs a suplex to start and cranks on the arm but can’t keep the shoulders on the mat. He can’t break Yuta’s bridge either so it’s off to a cross armbreaker attempt. Yuta makes it over to the rope for the break and that’s enough for a standoff. A dropkick puts Danielson down and Yuta grabs a bridging leglock to send Danielson to the ropes (that’s a rare one).

We take a break and come back with Danielson taking over and kicking him in the back for some cringing. A dragon suplex gives Danielson two so he fires off the hard elbows to the chest. Yuta slips out and does the same though, setting up an arm trap cradle for two. The not frustrated Danielson is right back with the running knee and Yuta is knocked silly. A large spit in the face sets up the hard stomps on Yuta and there’s a Gotch style piledriver. The LeBell Lock finishes the unconscious Yuta at 10:12.

Rating: B-. Yeah this worked and that shouldn’t be a surprise. Yuta was trying to hang in there for as long as he could and even gave Danielson some problems before getting beaten down by the higher level wrestler (see also the Punk match). I could see Yuta becoming a prospect for the Combat Club, and Regal’s reactions seem to be leading in that direction. I’m thinking Regal might be a good choice for this show.

Post match Regal says he is very impressed with Yuta for taking that kind of a beating and keep fighting.

Video on Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin.

Here is the Undisputed Elite with their stolen titles, now featuring their homemade name plates (just like FTR does on their AAA titles). They’re here for a celebration, complete with a PARTY SUPPLIES box. Said box is opened and five balloons fly out, thereby ending the party supplies. Hangman Page and Jurassic Express weren’t invited to the party because these titles look better here.

AEW needs a new crew to run the show and now they have the best pro wrestlers on the planet. Kyle O’Reilly talks about how the haters keep saying that they don’t have enough wins to get the title shot. Actually O’Reilly has had too much champagne so he sits down, leaving Bobby Fish to brag about how bad the three of them are.

Cue Hangman Page, driving into the arena in a Tesla (complete with longhorns) to clear the ring. Cole is pulled away before the Buckshot Lariat can launch but here is Jurassic Express with Christian Cage for the brawl from behind. The real beatdown is on and the champs all get their titles back. They got to the point with getting the titles back but the title matches are probably coming soon.

Here is Thunder Rosa to say she is here to put women’s wrestling back on the map. She has fought and clawed to get here but she doesn’t want to be just the face or pillar of this division. Instead, she wants to be the case of all of women’s wrestling but there are always bullies who want to bring her down. Pillars get knocked down, but foundations remain standing and she doesn’t want to hear from Vickie Guerrero. Instead, she wants to fight the best, like Nyla Rose. Bring it on.

FTR has been told that they take things too seriously and maybe they do. They came here to build a reputation rather than lose one so now it’s time to issue the challenge to the Young Bucks. Let’s see who the best team of all time really is.

Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Qualifying Match: The Bunny vs. Toni Storm

There’s your big surprise debut. Storm starts fast and sends her into the corner for some forearms to the face. Bunny chops her way out of trouble and a basement dropkick gets two. That doesn’t last long though as Storm is back up with some arm cranking. Bunny knees her outside though and there’s a running clothesline to send us to a break.

Back with Bunny kneeing her in the ribs to cut off the comeback bid but getting forearmed in the face. A fisherman’s suplex gets two on Bunny but she’s right back with a Death Valley Driver for the same. Storm isn’t having that and snaps off a German suplex setting up a quick piledriver (now dubbed Storm Zero, the third piledriver of the night) for the pin at 8:40.

Rating: C+. Slight obsession with piledrivers aside, this was a fine way to debut Storm. Most of the fans are going to know her so it isn’t like she needs some big introduction. Putting her into a tournament that is coming up a few weeks from now isn’t a terrible idea and giving her said tournament would be a good start, assuming that is the way they go.

Vickie Guerrero rants about Thunder Rosa, though she isn’t quite talking into the microphone. Nyla Rose is the foundation of this division and if Thunder Rosa has a wish, Rose will be her genie. Rose: “Abracadabra b****.”

Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo

Darby takes too long to skateboard to the ring, allowing Andrade to hit a slingshot dive to the floor. Allin is sent into the barricade and Andrade yells at the camera as we are waiting on the opening bell. Allin avoids a charge into the steps though and there’s a skateboard to the back. They head outside with Andrade picking him up for a suplex, walking him over to the barricade, and then dropping him down. That works so well that Andrade does it again, this time dropping him onto the side of the steps.

Allin gets inside and we have the opening bell, with Andrade sending him hard into the corner. Some running knees in the corner get two, with Allin having to grab the rope. Andrade backdrops him so high that Allin almost lands on his feet and we take a break. Back with Allin hitting a Code Red for two but getting stomped into the corner. They strike it out and lock up (JR: “They did something wrestling!”) until it’s a double knockdown.

Andrade whips off his belt but it gets taken away, allowing Allin to hit the flipping Stunner for two. Another exchange of strikes lets Andrade take him to the top, where Allin manages a super crucifix bomb. Allin puts on the Fujiwara armbar so here is Jose for a distraction, only to have Sting make the save. Butcher and Blade go after Sting so Allin dives onto both of them to save Steve. Back in and Andrade buckle bombs Allin, setting up El Idolo for the pin at 10:38.

Rating: B-. Another hard hitting fight here with Allin trying to hang in there but getting caught by the cheating numbers game again. Allin continues to be kind of floating around at the moment as I don’t remember the last time he got a big win. I can go for Andrade winning as he hasn’t really gotten his push, but he has to fight a bigger name at some point if it is going to mean anything.

Post match Andrade sends the goons after Sting again, with Private Party coming in to make it worse. The Hardys make the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. It might not have had any classic match but it covered a lot of ground and had a bunch of pretty awesome matches. I had fun with almost everything going on tonight, but the show still doesn’t feel like it has a big story going. Cole vs. Page isn’t doing it so far and Jericho N Pals vs. Kingston/Santana/Ortiz isn’t exactly great. Still though, what we’re getting is good and I can go with this as the “weaker” show.

Results
CM Punk b. Max Caster – Anaconda Vice
Jon Moxley b. Jay Lethal – Paradigm Shift
FTR b. Gunn Club – Big Rig to Colton
Bryan Danielson b. Wheeler Yuta – LeBell Lock
Toni Storm b. The Bunny – Storm Zero
Andrade El Idolo b. Darby Allin – El Idolo

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Dynamite
Date: March 23, 2022
Location: HEB Center, Cedar Park, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

We’re still in Texas and this time around CM Punk is back for a match with Dax Harwood. Other than that we are probably going to hear something from Thunder Rosa after she won the Women’s Title last week in her hometown. If we’re lucky, we might even get more of the Young Bucks trying to find out who their real friends are. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

CM Punk vs. Dax Harwood

Cash Wheeler is here too. They grapple into the corner to start and Harwood takes him down for an early breather. Punk is back up with a hammerlock but Harwood elbows him in the face to break it up. Back up and Punk gets kneed in the ribs, setting up a snap suplex. A backbreaker doesn’t even get one so Harwood grabs a chinlock. Harwood misses a headbutt though and it’s time to forearm it out. Punk gets the better of things and goes up top, where he has to cut Harwood off from trying a superplex.

The Macho Man elbow takes WAY too long though and Punk gets crotched down and now the top rope superplex connects. The top rope headbutt connects to give Harwood two and Punk is back up without much trouble. They suplex each other over the top for the nasty crash to the floor, setting up a high crossbody for two on Harwood back inside. The Anaconda Vice goes on but Harwood goes to the hair for the break.

Punk kicks him in into the corner and grabs a rollup, only to have them trade small packages for two each. Harwood is back up with a slingshot powerbomb for two, with Cash Wheeler being pulled up off the floor on the near fall. Punk fights up and sends him into the corner, setting up the GTS, which is countered into a Sharpshooter of all things. That’s too far for Punk, who gets out and pulls him into the GTS for the tap at 12:54.

Rating: B. Like this wasn’t going to be good, as you have Harwood who can wrestle an old school style and Punk who can work with anyone. It made for a good match and I wanted to see more, which is about as good as you can get. What I especially liked here was they took a tag wrestler and let him hang with Punk for a bit before ultimately falling. Punk gets a workout and Harwood isn’t going to be hurt by an out of his element loss to a top star. Rather good opener here.

Punk signals that he wants the title.

The Jericho Appreciation Society love that there is a photo of John Silver meeting Chris Jericho as a kid. Being in the same ring puts Silver on another level but not on the same level. The team looks around for Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz, who they know are gone, because that’s entertainment.

Sting/Darby Allin/Hardys vs. AFO

Tornado tag match with Private Party/Butcher and the Blade for the AFO. Allin and Sting start fast with the dives and the multiple brawls start on the floor. Jeff charges at Blade to take him over the barricade and Sting actually hits the Stinger Splash on Kassidy against the barricade. Allin gets powerbombed up against some walls and Butcher tosses him down the steps as we take a break.

Back with Private Party giving Matt a double Side Effect off the stage through a table as we cut to the concourse, where Jeff Hardy climbs up a ladder, goes up onto a ledge, and Swantons onto Butcher and Blade through some tables. With that huge spot out of the way, we head back to the ring where Sting shrugs off a chair shot to the back and fires up on Private Party. Matt is back up (because of course he is) and a stereo Twist of Fate and Twist of Fate set up the double pin at 9:24.

Rating: B-. It was another fun match with some crazy spots, but I can’t bring myself to get that invested in these things anymore. Sting and the AFO just had one of these big wild brawls earlier this month and there is likely to be another one not too long from now. Jeff diving off of stuff doesn’t do much for me anymore, but the AFO losing is always good for a bit of a smile.

FTR is all fired up and wants to fight the Gunn Club next week, with Harwood going into a good rant about how they’re the best tag team around here.

Varsity Blonds vs. Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson

Julia Hart sits on the steps with her back to the ring and William Regal is on commentary. Moxley and Danielson jump Garrison to start and the fight is on fast. Danielson knocks Garrison down and we take an early break. We come back with Garrison backdropping Danielson to the floor but getting dropped with a right hand from Moxley. Back up and a dropkick/spinebuster combination gets two on Moxley. Danielson is back in with the running knee to Pillman and a bunch of hard strikes to the head knock the Blonds silly. Stereo submissions are enough to make the Blonds tap at 6:00.

Rating: C+. That’s the kind of squash Danielson and Moxley should be having, as they beat up a team with a bit of credibility and did it fast. The Blonds had no change here but they got in a bit of time to keep it from being total destruction. As for Julia….does she really need some story? She can’t just keep being the pretty cheerleader for the time being while she builds up some experience?

Post match Regal comes into the ring, where Moxley talks about how there is no greater honor than to learn from Regal. He wears the Blackpool Badge of Honor and along with the perfect wrestler Bryan Danielson, they were forged in combat. If you want to step up to them, you better be ready for some violence. Of note: Julia Hart sat on the steps throughout the match and the post match promo.

Here is MJF, flanked by Shawn Spears and security. MJF mocks Wardlow for lowing to Scorpio Sky last week, but for now he wants to talk about CM Punk some more. Punk knows that he was beaten at Revolution, just like he did in Chicago, but rest assured that there will be another match. Then MJF will take him out and give him the most embarrassing loss ever.

Back to Wardlow, there are people who like him and that is because they are inbred. MJF is going to start calling Wardlow “Pig”, because he is a greedy little pig. When MJF met him, Wardlow had nothing and no one would know who Wardlow was without him. Now Wardlow actually has something, but he dared to cost MJF the biggest match of his career. Then Wardlow DARED to ask for MJF to release him from his contract? That was a deal with the devil, and it is iron clad.

Wardlow is going to ask how high when MJF tells him to jump, but MJF might even throw Wardlow’s mom out of her house anyway. Cue Wardlow, but a ton of security holds him back. MJF says he’s going to keep paying Wardlow, but it is to keep him at home until everyone forgets he ever existed. Security gets Wardlow to the back, with MJF saying that the Pinnacle has never been better. Next week FTR is in action and the Pinnacle is going to move up.

Trent Beretta throws Wheeler Yuta out of the Best Friends for suggesting he wanted to join William Regal and company. Yuta never liked Trent either and says he’s here to be the best wrestler, not to be the best friend. Trent should get that.

Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal

Lethal takes him into the corner to start but gets elbowed in the face. Back up and Lethal starts taking things a bit more seriously, including a waistlock to the mat. Cole fights up with an enziguri but Lethal grabs the Lethal Combination. Lethal gets knocked outside so Cole poses, allowing Lethal to knock him outside. The series of suicide dives connects until Cole runs away from the last one, only to have Lethal hit another one. Cue ReDRagon to watch as we take a break.

Back with Lethal’s Figure Four attempt being countered into a small package for two, so Lethal tries it again. This one works a bit better, with the hold actually going on and Cole having to go to the ropes. Cole grabs the ring skirt to distract the referee so ReDRagon can distract Lethal. That lets Cole roll Lethal up for two but the Boom is countered with a cutter. Cole superkicks the Lethal Injection away though and the Panama Sunrise gets two on Lethal, leaving Cole stunned. The Boom misses again but ReDRagon offers another distraction so Cole can hit Lethal low. Now the Boom can finish Lethal at 10:03.

Rating: C+. They did their thing well enough here and that shouldn’t be a surprise. These two have a history together and they got to have their match until the villain cheated to win. Lethal is someone you can send out there and guarantee at least a pretty good match and Cole gets a nice win too. It’s cool to see a match where you know it’s going to work and then it does just that for a change.

Post match Cole says no one deserves to be the World Champion more than he does and he is going to ruin Hangman Page’s life. Page is scared of him but here is Page to interrupt, even though it’s 3-1. The title is dropped so Page takes the belt out of his jeans and starts whipping away. Cole manages a low blow though and the beatdown is on, with Cole holding up the title. Jurassic Express and Christian Cage run in for the save, but Cole leaves with the title.

Video on Lance Archer vs. Dustin Rhodes, which is coming up on Rampage. Rhodes wants revenge (for Archer beating him up a long time ago on Dynamite) in his hometown because monsters die too. Point for a good last line.

Sammy Guevara is in the ring with Tay Conti and isn’t happy about losing the TNT Title. He wants to be the guy that fans want to pay to see because he is going to do something so crazy that you have to see it. Yes he knows he can’t do this style forever, because it’s going to catch up to him eventually, but it’s worth the whole thing. Conti rants in Portuguese and translates it into a threat to Paige VanZant.

Sammy wants the two of them to fight any two of the Men of the Year, so here is the team (minus VanZant) to rant about how great they are. Did you know that Sky hasn’t lost a match since Tony Khan hit puberty? That was more than a year ago! Dan Lambert says not so fast on the match and kisses the interim TNT Title, but Sammy says if Lambert only knew what Sammy and Conti did while they wore that title. Lambert’s disgusted reaction is hilarious.

Video on Shane Strickland vs. Ricky Starks for the FTW World Title on Rampage this week.

Leyla Hirsch vs. Red Velvet

Kris Statlander is barred from ringside and Hirsch knocks Velvet off the apron before the bell. Velvet sends her into the barricade though and they go inside for the opening bell and a lot of stomping. Hirsch knocks her back down though and we take a break. Back with Velvet hitting a running knee to the back and pounding away a bit. The springboard is countered into a German suplex but Velvet catches her on top. The Mix connects so Hirsch rolls outside and pulls out the turnbuckle. That’s taken away, so here’s another piece of the turnbuckle out of her gear to knock Velvet silly for the pin at 6:24.

Rating: C-. This is a good example of a match that didn’t need to be on Dynamite as it was there to help advance a midcard feud at best. Velvet continues to look pretty lame by comparison and this was a pretty big downgrade over everything else on the show so far. Keep this on Rampage or Dark.

Post match the beatdown stays on and Kris Statlander runs in for the save.

Jade Cargill wants plans for the after party of her thirtieth win, including a lot of green stuff and exotic dancers.

Here is Thunder Rosa for her first chat as the Women’s Champion but Vickie Guerrero interrupts. Vickie does not like Rosa acting like she is really from Texas so she can “backstroke back to Mexico”. This turns into an argument about citizenship until Nyla Rose jumps Rosa from behind and beats her down. Two people arguing about the love of Texas. This sounds familiar for some reason.

Dark Order vs. Daniel Garcia/Chris Jericho

John Silver/Alex Reynolds for the Order. Before the match, Matt Minard praises Jericho a bit. Silver armdrags Jericho down to start and the Order knocks Jericho outside, setting up a brainbuster/dive combination. Back in and Garcia gets launched into a forearm to the face, leaving Jericho to pretend that the rest of the Order sent him into the steps. That’s enough for a big ejection and we take a break.

We come back with everything breaking down and Silver getting to clean house. Silver even takes down Jake Hager on the floor and a high crossbody gets two on Jericho. The Codebreaker gives Jericho two of his own and Jericho is shocked. The Order hits the running boot into the German suplex into the flip over rollup for two on Garcia but Hager starts wrecking people on the floor. Reynolds hits Garcia with a pop up knee but Jericho uses Floyd, setting up Garcia’s Scorpion Deathlock to make Reynolds tap at 9:59.

Rating: C. That’s your main event? It wasn’t awful but Jericho and company needing a numbers game and a baseball bat to beat some midcard guys isn’t a good sign for them. This didn’t feel like a main event match and it needed something bigger going on to get to that high of a spot on the show. Silver continues to shine in this role, and an underdog run after the TNT Title would be fun.

Overall Rating: B-. This show started off red hot and then dropped a fairly good bit. There was no way they were following those two openers, with the crowd carrying both of them to even greater heights. As usual, a weak AEW show is still good and the fans made this one feel that much better. Mix up the order on this and it’s a lot better, but for now it’s just another entertaining show.

Results
CM Punk b. Dax Harwood – Anaconda Vice
Sting/Hardys/Darby Allin b. AFO – Double pin to Private Party
Bryan Danielson/Jon Moxley b. Varsity Blonds – Rear naked choke to Garrison
Adam Cole b. Jay Lethal – Boom
Leyla Hirsch b. Red Velvet – Turnbuckle rod to the face
Chris Jericho/Daniel Garcia b. Dark Order – Scorpion Deathlock to Reynolds

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.