By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Chris Jericho and MJF vs. Santana and Ortiz vs. Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager in a Triple Threat tag match: Even this devout fan of the David Lee Roth era of Van Halen got big a kick out of Sammy Hagar making a brief appearance in support of the “Sammy Hager” tag team. AEW usually crams so much into each episode that they don’t always do a good job of pushing the main event throughout the course of each show, but that wasn’t the case on this episode. It’s interesting that MJF stated at one point that Chris Jericho was the only person in Inner Circle who wanted this match to happen. Will this be one of the things they point to if the other members oust Jericho from the group to set up a babyface run? Either way, this was a fun match and the fans didn’t seem to have any issue with getting invested in it despite there not being a clearcut babyface involved.
Young Bucks visit Kenny Omega’s house: The oil painting of Omega and a jacked Don Callis was the funniest thing I’ve seen on a pro wrestling television show so far this year. I also enjoyed the way that Callis acted like he didn’t want to say who hit him even though he clearly wanted Omega to know that the Young Bucks attacked him.
Hangman Page, Colt Cabana, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver vs. Luther, Serpentico, Angelico, and Jack Evans: This served as a good showcase for Page. You didn’t really think I was going to give -1’s birthday match a Miss, did you?
Jon Moxley vs. Nick Comoroto: A nice spotlight match for Moxley, who gave Comoroto enough offense to come away from the loss looking like he has upside potential. Moxley’s post match promo was strong and he continues to come off as the coolest wrestler in the industry.
Matt Sydal and “Top Flight” Darius Martin and Dante Martin vs. Matt Hardy and “Private Party” Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen: It wasn’t always pretty, but the good outweighed the bad. I have no problem with watching younger wrestlers work out the kinks, and I have no doubt that both tag teams are going to be stars for years to come. I’m surprised the Private Party heel turn occurred prior to their Impact Tag Title match against fellow heels Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, but I like the switch. I didn’t see the Hardy and Party relationship lasting long if Hardy was a heel and the tag team were babyfaces. Plus, it sets up what should be a really fun feud between Private Party and Top Flight that should become a long term rivalry.
Penelope Ford vs. Layla Hirsch: A nice match. I don’t know why Ford doesn’t get a lot of in-ring time on Dynamite, but hopefully that will change once they get through the wedding saga.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Cody Rhodes vs. Peter Avalon: Even with the Jade Cargill distraction spot, the match felt like it went longer than it needed to. I just didn’t buy Avalon as a threat to Rhodes. Will we ever get back to Cody having an actual feud and telling great stories along the way or will he just keep facing random wrestlers on Dynamite?
Butler Charles and Orange Cassidy: AEW didn’t really set up the stipulation of Chuck Taylor becoming Miro’s butler well. Perhaps an employer could make his butler say things that he doesn’t want to say for fear of keeping his job, but why would Taylor fear losing a job he’s being forced to do? Worse yet, why would Cassidy look sad when it was obvious that Taylor was being forced to say that Miro is his new best friend?
Weirdly, Hager was actually dynamic and entertaining in that match. Guevara is just brilliant. I would prefer him to come out of this story as the babyface rather than Jericho.
I suspect that Sammy and Jericho will both be babyfaces in this Inner Circle civil war, but I’m just guessing. They are clearly setting up Sammy for a babyface turn. As good as he is as a heel, I think he’ll do really well in that role.