By Jake Barnett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@barnettjake)
AEW Dynamite (Episode 48)
Live from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place
Aired September 2, 2020 on TNT
[Hour One] The show opened with Jim Ross welcoming the audience to the show. Tony Schiavone and Excalibur joined him at the commentary desk. Best Friends will face Santana and Ortiz on the show, and a video package aired to highlight their feud. After the video package, Santana and Ortiz made their entrance, but were jumped by Best Friends before they got to the ring.
Santana and Ortiz quickly turned the tables and beat down Chuck on the floor. Trent got ran into the stage equipment by Ortiz, but came back a moment later with a dive to take down Santa and Ortiz. Trent and Chuck tried to suplex Santana onto the steps, but Ortiz made the save. The match has yet to officially start. Ortiz choked Trent as Chuck grabbed some chairs. Santana was sent over the barricade to the spectator area. Trent took down Ortiz with a spear after rebounding from the railing. Chuck built a fort out of chairs next to the ring, but Santana interrupted him by hitting him with his own chair from the outside.
Chuck landed a back body drop on Santana onto the ramp, but then got tossed into chair fort off the stage. The match then officially started in the ring.
1. “Best Friends” Chuck Taylor and Trent vs. Santana and Ortiz: Chuck was laid out on his pile of chairs, and Santana and Ortiz isolated Trent in the ring. Trent was dropped onto the top rope, and took a nasty fall on his head when he landed on the ropes with his knees instead of his stomach. Chuck rallied back into the match and sent Santana and Ortiz to the floor. He dove into Ortiz at ringside, but Santana leapfrogged a spear attempt and Trent collided with the barricade.
Back in the ring, Trent fought away from Santana and made the tag to Chuck, who had re-entered the match. Chuck cleared the ring and sent Santana and Ortiz to the floor, and dove onto them at ringside. Chuck landed Sole Food and a Falcon Arrow on Santana for a near fall. He then landed a knee to Santana, and tagged in Trent. He entered and landed a kick to the face of Santana. He then went out to the apron for a springboard, but was knocked onto the ring steps by Santana.
There was a clumsy pinfall spot in the corner after Trent landed a Crunchy on Ortiz. The ref just kind of stopped counting after Ortiz failed to grab the ropes with his arm. Santana produced a collapsible baton from under the ring, and hit Trent with it. They then hit Trent with their Street Sweeper finisher for the win.
Santana and Ortiz defeated Best Friends at 7:13.
After the match, we got an MJF promo. He said there was only one outcome on Sunday, and that was him becoming AEW Champion. His staffer Lee walked up and said that his lawyer Mark had locked himself in a room. MJF had Wardlow kick the door down and pull him out. MJF then told the lawyer that he understood that he was afraid, but there was nothing scarier than being in a position to be in the way of his goals. He told Mark he had two options, he could get in the ring against Moxley, or he could find himself in a wood chipper. He asked him which monster he wanted to deal with tonight?
Moxley vs. Mark was plugged for later, along with Joey Janela in action, and an interview with Kenny Omega. JR said Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb will take place later. In the arena, SCU made their entrance for the next match…[c]
My Take: MJF showed some good intensity at the end of his promo. The show opening tag match was good for the most part, but the sloppy finish let off a lot of the steam they built up. I’m looking forward to seeing how Thunder Rosa performs in her first AEW appearance.
The Young Bucks made their entrance. Private Party joined with SCU, and Jurassic Express joined with the Bucks. The winning teams will face each other at All Out.
2. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and “Private Party” Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy vs. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson and Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy (w/Marko Stunt): Jungle Boy and Kazarian went back and forth to start the match. Matt Jackson and Marq Quen then tagged in, and Matt showed a mean streak beating down Quen. Matt popped up Marq Quen off an Irish Whip, but Quen reversed into a dropkick. Quen sent Matt to the floor and tagged Daniels. Matt tore up a Hangman sign held by someone I didn’t recognize at ringside. Might have been someone from production.
Matt and Nick took control on Daniels and weren’t tagging in Luchasaurus or Jungle Boy. Daniels ducked under a double clothesline attempt and shoved Nick into Matt. He then landed a suplex on Nick and made a tag to Kazarian. He entered and landed a leg lariat on Jungle Boy, and then pulled Nick into the ring over the ropes for a cutter. Daniels then splashed Nick and Matt as they tried to regroup on the floor.
Kazarian landed a nice springboard leg drop on Kaz for a two count. Private Party tagged in back to back to work some double team. They landed a Flapjack and Facebuster combination for a near fall on Jungle Boy. Daniels tagged back in and landed a vertical suplex for another two count. SCU continued to make frequent tags to isolate Jungle Boy…[c]
Quen and Kassidy got their turn to beat down Jungle Boy during the picture in picture break. Jungle Boy took advantage of a miscommunication to land a modified Olympic Slam on Kassidy. He then tagged in Luchasaurus to clean up. Private Party took him off his feet with a double dropkick, but he fired back with a double clothesline. He then dove on both Kaz and Daniels at ringside.
Matt Jackson made a blind tag, and the Bucks and Jurassic Express landed dueling moonsault and Splash Combos on Private Party. Kassidy then caught a superkick attempt from Matt Jackson, who got sent to his own corner to tag Jungle Boy. We got a flurry of high spots that resulted in Marq Quen landed a shooting star on Jungle Boy. Luchasaurus had to break up the pin. We got another flurry of high spots, and this time The Young Bucks cleared SCU and Kassidy from the ring, and put away Marq Quen with a BTE Trigger.
“The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson and Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy defeated Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and “Private Party” Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy at 14:15.
After the match, the Young Bucks refused to celebrate with Jurassic Express, and stared them down as they walked to the back. Elsewhere, Jake Hager approached Orange Cassidy backstage, and told him that Jericho was requesting he be at ringside for his match later. Cassidy was dismissive, and Hager told him it would be smart to be there…[c]
My Take: Another whirlwind of an 8-man tag. It’s impossible to capture all the spots in my report, but safe to say the last few minutes were wild. These matches are a lot more fun to watch than they are to cover, but I will say this match managed to stay sharper than most of the recent multi-team matches. There weren’t a lot of awkward spots where people were out of place or unfortunate botches. The Bucks stood out in a good way with their new attitude.
Tully spoke with FTR backstage. He complimented them on accomplishing their first goal, and said they had to give the effort of their career to capture the AEW Tag Team Championships. FTR said they had all Sunday to be sore, but on Saturday night Omega and Page will feel the revelation. In the ring, Kenny Omega was brought out for an interview by Schiavone. He wore a Hana Kimura shirt, and they plugged the shirt sales benefitting Hana’s family.
Schiavone asked Omega about Hangman Page, and how they were going to come together on Saturday. He said Hangman made a mistake that he’ll have to deal with, and said he had been taken in and fooled by the cockroaches FTR. Kenny told FTR to bring their A-Game on Saturday, because he and Hangman would bring theirs.
Dawson told Kenny he was impressed with their run, and didn’t have any problems with them. He said they were looking forward to having a great match and blowing their expectations. They had a cooler and offered a toast, and gave Kenny his apparent favorite chocolate milk. Kenny said he can’t turn down pine of choc, but what he can turn down is spending time with a couple of dick……he was censored. Kenny asked if they should get it over with because it was 2 on 1…or 3 on 1 since he forgot the legend. He asked them to keep Tully away since he can smell his depends.
Hangman walked out, and Dawson told him to tell Kenny who got in his head. They said it wasn’t them, because they’ve known him his entire career and he’s always been nothing but an insecure little boy. He said Adam got in his own head, and made the choice to interfere last week to avoid having a rematch with The Young Bucks. They called Hangman a piece of shit, and told him to tell Kenny what kind of POS he is. Hangman got hot, and wanted a fight, but Kenny held him back and said FTR was getting in his head again. FTR dropped the titles at Hangman’s feet, but when he turned to give Kenny his belt, he had already rolled to the outside.
Elsewhere, Chris Jericho was interviewed by Alex Marvez. Jericho took credit for making Orange Cassidy a star, but now he needed to put a bullet in his head and sent him back where he belongs. He said Cassidy is a main event talent, but he’s not on Jericho’s level. He said he would hit him with a Judas Effect, make him tap with the Walls of Jericho, and then toss him into a vat of Mimosa. He said tonight he would make Joey Janela a sacrifice, and show Orange Cassidy what was waiting for him on Saturday.
Janela made his entrance in the arena…[c]
My Take: A good promo segment between Kenny, Hangman, and FTR, but they kept losing several seconds worth of audio every time the censor would fail to catch their swear words. I’m not sure those were even the heaviest hitting lines of the promo, either. Seemed like a waste. Otherwise, everybody played their part well here, although there is still something about Kenny Omega that seems phony and put on that I can’t quite get over.
Chris Jericho made his entrance, accompanied by Jake Hager. Orange Cassidy made his way out through the crowd and sat near the spectator wrestlers. Jericho was wearing an Orange Cassidy shirt.
3. Chris Jericho vs. Joey Janela: They had a hockey fight to start, and Jericho beat down Janela in the corner. Jericho then chopped away and then landed a running clothesline. Jericho landed a back suplex and yelled out to Cassidy and asked if he could see what was coming. Jericho landed another suplex and continued to gloat.
[Hour Two] Janela fought back with a body block, but Jericho regained control quickly with a lariat. Jericho landed some knees and sent Janela out onto the ramp way. Janela tried a springboard back into the ring, but got caught with the Codebreaker. Jericho then applied the Walls of Jericho and got the submission.
Chris Jericho defeated Joey Janela at 2:51
Jericho continued to beat down Janela and then exposed the turnbuckle. He then slammed Janela the steel face first. Janela came up bleeding, and Jericho rubbed the blood from Janela onto the shirt he was wearing and threw it at Cassidy. He entered the ring, and caught a beating from Hager and Jericho. Sonny Kiss ran down and kicked Jericho, but got slammed down by Hager. Cassidy shoved Hager from the ring, and landed a Swinging DDT on Jericho. He went for a Superman Punch, but Hager pulled Jericho from the ring.
Cassidy produced a bottle of Jericho’s champagne from his backpack. He uncorked it, and then gave a thumbs down while he poured it out. Jericho swore revenge and walked through the crowd. We then got a video package that went over the Sammy Guevara and Matt Hardy feud. We then got some Sammy Guevara signs, while Matt Hardy looked on from the top of the set…[c]
My Take: A pretty basic squash for Janela and Jericho. The Codebreaker spot looked impressive. Orange Cassidy got a nice reaction from the small crowd. He could be a solid challenger for the TNT Title coming out of this feud.
It was announced that Hardy will leave AEW if he loses to Guevara on Saturday. They will face off in a Broken Rules match. Schiavone said it would be last man standing, but I don’t know if he meant that in the sense that it would be Last Man Standing rules. In the arena, Taz entered with Starks and Cage. Taz said that one of his two athletes will win the Casino Battle Royal. He called Darby Allin an idiot if he thinks Starks isn’t going to kick his ass. He then called out Lance Archer and Jake Roberts, who walked out to interrupt him.
Jake said they were a bunch of squirrels looking for a nut, and they wouldn’t bust a nut as long as they were in the ring. He called Taz and his crew a crew full of losers. They were interrupted by Eddie Kingston and his crew, who said the show was live and he didn’t have all night. He then said he wasn’t sure if he should fight Ricky Starks to take him on a date. Taz said they would fight all of them, and especially that loser Lance Archer.
A brawl broke out, and people streamed out who were participating in the Battle Royal at All out. Billy Gunn, Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz, Best Friends, Sean Spears, Butcher and Blade, and others ran in and brawled around the ringside area…[c]
The brawl continued as the show returned. The announce team threw to a video package about the Dark Order’s recent dominance while the pointless brawl continued in the ring. The ring was magically cleared when the package was over…
Thunder Rosa made her entrance, and Serena Deeb was already in the ring.
4. NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb in a non-title match: They locked up to start, and Rosa quickly transitioned to a leg grapevine, and then a brief crossface. Deeb escaped and grabbed a facelock, and then landed a European uppercut. They traded shots until Rosa trapped a punch and pulled Deeb into an arm drag. Rosa then landed another arm drag, but Deeb countered into an arm wrap neckbreaker. Deeb then repeatedly drove Deeb’s knees in to the mat, and applied a single leg crab. Rose escaped by reaching the ropes…[c]
Rosa landed a running knee in the corner, and then applied a chin lock. Deeb fought to her feet and landed a backstabber, and then followed up with some lariats. She then applied an abdominal stretch, and transitioned into a pin for a near fall. Deeb whiffed on a splash in the corner, and Rosa capitalized with a knee strike. She then landed double knees in the corner and covered for a near fall. Rosa went for a crucifix slam, but Deeb reversed into a pinfall attempt for two.
Deeb went for an arm trap piledriver, but Rosa escaped and landed a Death Valley Driver for a near fall. They traded pinfall attempts for two counts, and then Rosa put Deeb away with the Thunder Driver for the win.
NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa defeated Serena Deeb at 10:15 in a non-title match
Rosa celebrated after the match with the NWA Title. Jon Moxley cut a promo backstage. He told MJF he gets his shot tonight, and told him not to let the nerves get to him. All the media and interviews will be over soon, and all the campaign and lawyers will be over with. He asked MJF if he will be ready to kill or be killed when they get in the ring together. He said he’ll need to be the baddest MJF we’ve ever seen, because he wasn’t going to just let any dumbass with a big mouth run around with the World Title. Moxley said every thing he’s done up until now has been the easy part…[c]
My Take: A highly enjoyable match from Rosa and Serena. JR caught himself calling it one of the best AEW women’s matches to avoid offending people, but he was not wrong. This wasn’t a flashy match in terms of risky high spots, but it didn’t lack excitement and both women showed off an impressive skillset. If I were hiring for AEW, I’d be falling over backwards to open my checkbook for both of them. Moxley, as usual, gave an effortlessly great promo. Thelonius Monk said a genius is the man most like himself, and I think Moxley is in that zone right now. The battle royal segment was the weakest of the night by far.
Big Swole was interviewed by Tony Shiavone, and she said she was going to show up at Brittney “Basura” Baker’s job on Saturday and she would give her the beating she had been ducking for months. Reba walked up holding a pizza and said she had a delivery for Tony. Swole said she wasn’t fooling anybody, and Baker assaulted Swole with a crutch from behind. She then kicked her in the face, and shoved her face into the pizza. She then applied Lockjaw, and rubbed the pizza all over Swole’s face and hair. Baker used a cloth mask on her hand when she stuck her hand into Swole’s mouth.
The announce team ran down the All Out Card, and all the Youtube shoulder content that was available starting Friday Night. MJF’s lawyer Mark Sterling made his entrance with Wardlow. He tried to escape, but Wardlow forced him down the ramp to the ring…[c]
My Take: Baker finally went after some actual heat, which is a good thing after that utterly dreadful segment they had last week with the handicap match. I have confidence that Swole and Baker will deliver at All Out despite a build that I will charitably call lackluster.
John Moxley made his entrance from the far side of the arena where FTR used to park their pickup. He got the loudest reaction of the night from the live crowd. Moxley gave a prayer in the corner in a mocking fashion before the match.
5. AEW Champion Jon Moxley vs. Mark Sterling (w/Wardlow) in a non-title match: Moxley walked towards Sterling, and he fell backwards comedically. Schiavone tried to feel bad for the lawyer, but JR wasn’t having any of it. Moxley offered him a free shot, and Sterling pretended he didn’t know how to make a fist. Sterling whiffed his punch, and Moxley smacked him.upside the head. Sterling rolled to the outside holding his ear.
Moxley offered him a free shot to the back, and Sterling charged him. Moxley moved and Sterling spilled to ringside. Moxley pursued Sterling finally, and Sterling poked him in the eye. Moxley crushed him with a lariat and then knocked him to the floor. Moxley pursued and buried Sterling in chairs and portions of the barricade. Moxley pulled one of Sterling’s shoes off and beat him with it.
Moxley pulled a chair into the ring and sat on it. He then offered Sterling a handshake, and then poked him in the eye. He then hit the paradigm shift for the win.
Jon Moxley defeated Mark Sterling at 5:01 in a non-title match.
Wardlow entered the ring and landed an F10. He then landed a second one. MJF walked out with his walker and neck brace, but dropped the charade to enter the ring and deliver punches to Moxley. He then choked him in the corner and told the camera that if they wanted violence, they got it. He then stepped on Moxley’s neck and asked for the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Wardlow held Moxley up, and MJF punched Moxley on the top of the head with it. Moxley came up bleeding, and MJF choked him as he bled.
MJF wiped Moxley’s blood on his face and then held up the AEW World Championship. MJF screamed that this is the future as he stood on Moxley’s neck to close the show…
My Take: The entire match was dreadful television. As for the post match, I think they wanted to make MJF scary at the last second, but I don’t think it was enough to overcome weeks of being treated like a very soft opponent for Moxley. They pivoted from the campaign angle to Moxley questioning whether or not MJF had it in him to compete on an elite level, and this was MJF’s answer, but it felt like it should have been the way the feud opened. It doesn’t feel like the right time to move the title away from Moxley, but I hope they find a way to keep MJF strong in defeat by showing some genuine toughness in the match. It was segments like this and attention grabbing promos that put Moxley in a position for a title shot in the first place, but it’s a shame they waited until the Dynamite before the PPV to get serious and heat this feud up.
“A highly enjoyable match from Rosa and Serena. JR caught himself calling it one of the best AEW women’s matches to avoid offending people, but he was not wrong.”
I can see why JR backtracked a little, but he is certainly is right. With the lack of quality in AEW’s women’s division, if Serena Deeb is available and they don’t sign her then the need their heads examining.
“although there is still something about Kenny Omega that seems phony and put on that I can’t quite get over.”
Everything about him is put on and phony.
Rosa vs Deeb was really good.
Moxley vs Mar was awful.
Standard AEW fare otherwise.