By Jake Barnett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@barnettjake)
AEW Dynamite (Episode 104)
Rochester, New York at Blue Cross Arena
Aired live September 29, 2021 on TNT
A “In Memory of Jon Huber” aka Brodie Lee image was shown at the top of the broadcast. Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Excalibur were seated at the announce table. CM Punk made his entrance, and he will be joining as the 4th member of the broadcast team. Punk teased a stage drive, but wasn’t able to because of NY Athletic Commission rules. Punk made a lap around the ringside area and then headed back up to commentary. Excalibur made mention of jonhuberfoundation.org and told viewers to go there if they are interested in more information. The announce team ran down tonight’s card, with Jungle Boy and Adam Cole coming up next.
Adam Cole made his entrance for the opening match. After Cole’s entrance theatrics, Jungle Boy made his entrance.
1. Jungle Boy vs. Adam Cole: They worked some mat wrestling to start, with Cole grabbing a side headlock and maintaining control. Jungle Boy fired back with some forearms and a shoulder tackle. They talked some trash after the shoulder tackle, and then traded some blows. Jungle Boy landed an acrobatic arm drag using the ropes and Cole rolled out to the floor to regroup. Jungle Boy chased Cole around, and then got jumped when he got back in the ring. He landed a kick in the corner, and then climbed to the top, but Cole recovered and knocked him off the top and out to the floor.
Cole maintained control with more punches on the outside and a back elbow in the ring. He then tossed Jungle Boy hard into the corner, and taunted the live crowd. Jungle Boy managed to fire back up with a huge lariat, and then he and Cole traded punches. Then they moved onto trading kicks.Jungle Boy then landed a brainbuster, and both men were down.
They got to their feet and Jungle Boy landed a series of suplexes. He tried to place Cole in the tree of woe, but Cole kicked him in the face. He got it done on a second attempt. Jungle Boy landed a running dropkick to the face for a two count. Cole landed an ushigoroshi. A moment later, Jungle Boy landed a poisoned hurracarrana. He then landed a samoan drop for a near fall. Cole surprised Jungle Boy with a superkick and sent him crashing to the outside.
Cole setup for a Panama Sunrise on the floor, but Jungle Boy avoided it. He then hit the ropes to dive on Cole on the outside, but Cole kicked him as he came through the ropes. Jungle Boy replied with a step up hurracarrana that flipped Cole from the apron to the floor. Cole landed a kick in the ring, and then a Panama Sunrise for a close near fall. He then lowered his knee pad, and went for the Last Shot, but Jungle Boy avoided it and applied the Snare Tap.
Jungle Boy went to pull Cole to the middle of the ring, and he kicked himself free. Cole and Jungle Boy trapped referee Aubrey Edwards against the ropes, and Cole used the opportunity to hit a low blow. He then landed the Last Show (now called The Boom) for the win.
Adam Cole defeated Jungle Boy at 13:57
After the match, the rest of The Elite made their entrance…[c]
My Take: I’m not sure if the crowd isn’t mic’d well, or were just a bit quiet during this match. It was a very good TV match, and both men worked very hard. The low blow protects Jungle Boy, and Adam Cole gets another important victory. I like that Cole is bucking the trend of the Elite goofiness by avoiding interference in his matches, even if he has to find clever ways to cheat himself.
Karl Anderson had a microphone and asked Rochester to welcome the Super Elite. He said “to be Elite”, you had to have…and introduced all the members of The Elite. He ran down their accomplishments. Cole grabbed the mic and said he did what he promised by defeating Jungle Boy, and reminded the crowd that he is Elite and undefeated. Cutler tried to speak, but Nick Jackson told him to shut up. He then introduced “the best promo in wrestling” Michael Nakazawa, who said he had nothing to say.
Kenny Omega then grabbed the microphone and said his social media mentions were completely full with people telling him that he had the greatest match in AEW history last week. He said that’s cool, but he didn’t care. He called out Bryan, and said he had taken him to his limit and kicked his head in, but the problem is that he couldn’t get the job done when it counted. He told Bryan that he has zero record, and he’s never getting a rematch or seeing Kenny in the ring ever again.
Bryan Danielson made his way to the ring to interrupt. He had a microphone and stopped on the ramp to the ring. He polled the crowd and asked the crowd if they wanted to see a rematch between himself and Kenny Omega. The crowd went nuts, and he told Kenny he didn’t have the balls to give him a rematch. He then introduced him as Kenny “No Balls” Omega. That chant began immediately.
Danielson challenged any member of The Elite on Rampage…and Kenny interrupted. He said why not right now? Bryan said he would fight, but he wasn’t fighting alone. Frankie Kazarian, Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Christian Cage walked out, and The Elite scrambled from the ring. Kenny No Balls chants broke out as Kenny and Bryan stared at each other while The Elite walked backward up the ramp.
Dante Martin and Matt Sydal vs. Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson is next…[c]
My Take: The Elite portion of that segment dragged a bit, but once Bryan got there, things improved. I honestly hoped after last week they’d go in a different direction with Kenny over the threat posed by Bryan, but it looks like we’re still getting Chicken Shit Kenny No Balls. It’d be nice to get some sit down interviews at some point from Bryan and Kenny so we can get a bit more serious take on their rivalry outside of trading insults with each other.
Backstage, the Lucha Brothers were shown speaking backstage with Andrade and Tony Schiavone. Andrade said it was time for them to defend their AAA Tag Titles, and The Lucha Brothers accepted the challenge. Andrade apparently has some friends who would be happy to take the titles off their hands.
In the arena, Dante Martin and Matt Sydal made their entrance. They were followed by Lee Johnson and Cody Rhodes. Cody’s music started getting boos immediately. They were accompanied by Brandi and Arn Anderson. Punk mocked his entrance and said it was “a lot”. Arn gave both Cody and Lee some “coaching” on the floor.
2. Cody and Lee Johnson (w/Arn Anderson, Brandi Rhodes) vs. Matt Sydal and Dante Martin: Cody and Dante started the match, but both guys quickly tagged out. Arn was immediately upset because he wanted Lee Johnson to start the match. Matt Sydal landed a kick on Lee, and Arn was unhappy again. Dante Martin tagged back in and showed some impressive acrobatics leaping away from offense. There was a staredown between Martin and Johnson that brought Cody and Sydal into the ring…[c]
Everybody ended up out on the floor during the break, with Dante leaping on both Johnson and Rhodes. Martin and Johnson were the legal men, and he was quickly cut off from Cody by Sydal and Martin. They focused on keeping Johnson on the ground. Johnson broke free of Sydal with a dropkick, and made a tag to Cody. Dante entered the ring and Cody gave him a powerslam. Martin and Cody traded punches, and Cody landed a disaster kick on Sydal on the apron.
Cody landed a Vertebreaker on Martin and covered for a near fall. Sydal got off the floor and landed a kick to Cody’s head. Martin landed a missile dropkick on Cody for a two count. Sydal and Lee Johnson spilled out to the floor. Martin landed a double springboard moonsault for another near fall. Lee Johnson tagged himself into the match after pulling Cody into the corner.
Martin rolled up Johnson for a near fall. Johnson quickly pulled in Martin for what appeared to be a leg hook brainbuster onto his knee for the win.
Lee Johnson and Cody Rhodes defeated Matt Sydal and Dante Martin at 7:48
After the match, Cody was interviewed and demanded Malakai Black come out to the ring. Arn told him to quit talking, and addressed Malakai Black. He said he had destroyed the Nightmare Family and Cody twice, and he was too damn old to take up the fight. Arn told Cody that if a man walked up to his car at a stoplight and demanded he get out, he’d tell him to take it as long as he didn’t hurt him. The difference is that he’s Arn Anderson, and everything that implies, and he’d pull out a glock and spill his brains all over the concrete. He then told Lee Johnson to come with him, because at least he listens. He told Cody that he was done coaching losers, and walked away…[c]
My Take: I’m surprised they had Arn say he’d blow somebody’s brains out, but I guess it got the point across. Cody didn’t look nearly as hurt as I would have thought by the comments, more in shock than anything, which worked fine. I don’t know if this was supposed to make Cody seem more sympathetic, but the crowd didn’t think so, and seemed happy with Arn.
Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, and Jon Moxley all made their entrance to Wild Thing. Sting also joined them. Bear Country and Anthony Green were already in the ring.
3. Darby Allin (w/Sting), Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. Anthony Greene and Bear Country: Darby and Greene started the match. Darby landed some pretty arm drags, and then tagged Moxley. Bear Boulder slammed Moxley and tagged Bear Bronson, who landed a running senton. Boulder tagged back in and they attempted a double splash, but Eddie Kingston blocked it. Kingston then suplexed Bear Bronson out of the ring.
Moxley then did the same thing to Bear Boulder. Darby used the Coffin Drop on both Bear Country Members on the floor. Moxley and Kingston landed the Violent Crown on Anthony Greene for the win.
Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Darby Allin defeated Bear Country and Anthony Greene at 3:01
After the match, Sting landed a Scorpion Death drop on Greene. Kingston held up a sign for Brodie Lee.
A video package aired for Ruby Soho and Britt Baker. Ruby talked about feeling the support of 20k fans last week, and Britt mocked her. She said she should already be accustomed to feeling rock bottom. Ruby promised to climb the rankings and capture the title…
The entire HFO was in the ring. Hardy mentioned 18 months ago he was supposed to make his debut in Rochester, but that was deleted because Rochester didn’t deserve a legend like Big Money Matt Hardy. The Pixies interrupted Hardy and Orange Cassidy headed to the ring. He was joined by The Dark Order with Brodie Lee Jr…
4. Orange Cassidy, Alan “5” Angels, Preston “10” Vance, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds vs. Matt Hardy, Marq Quen, Isiah Kassidy, Jack Evans, Angelico, The Butcher, The Blade, and Jora Johl: Alan Angels and The Blade started the match. The Blade got a quick near fall after some Dark Order internal struggle. Private Party entered the ring with Orange Cassidy, and that caused a total breakdown with everyone jumping in and getting involved…[c]
The match settled down with Orange Cassidy and Isaiah Kassidy in the ring. The heels took control and Jora Johl landed a stalled vertical suplex on Cassidy. They continued to isolate him with quick tags in the heel corner. He broke free and made a tag out to Stu Grayson. Grayson and Uno landed some double team offense on The Blade, but Grayson was quickly shut down and isolated back in the HFO corner.
Grayson landed a double Pele kick on Jack Evans and Angelico. Alex Reynolds tagged in, and Evil Uno joined him in the ring briefly for some double teams. Uno got dumped to ringside, and his frustration boiled over as he decided to bail on the match. Negative One and Amanda Huber walked out with Tay Conti and Anna Jay and told Uno, Grayson, and Colt Cabana to get back to the ring. Dark Order seemed to get on the same page. They cleared the HFO from the ring and dove on everybody at ringside.
John Silver ran around the ring and took people out. Everybody broke down as Jora Johl was isolated by Dark Order. They landed a combination gamengiri, stunner and then a flipping double team blockbuster off the top. John Silver covered Johl and got the pin.
The Dark Order and Orange Cassidy defeated The Hardy Family Office at 8:38
After the match, Brodie Lee Jr. got to celebrate in the ring with the crowd chanting. He got a good look at all the signs dedicated to his father. After the match, we got a video package for Lio Rush, who was introduced as a wealthy playboy living an upper class life with million dollar homes and cars…except it’s all a scam…[c]
My Take: A really touching moment for Brodie Lee Jr at the end, and that’s really all that mattered there.
FTR was shown backstage and said his Dad told him that excuses are for the weak and untalented. He said they were neither, and said they might have gotten lost in the fact that Cash Wheeler almost lost his livelihood, but they were back and better than ever. He said they were top guys and everybody else better watch out…
In the ring, Dan Lambert gave another angry white man rant. He paused to praise Chris Jericho for helping AEW get off the ground, but said he was now waiting at the plastic surgeon getting Jorge Masvidal’s knee removed from his skull. He said they had done AEW a service, and the company would never swing from the Balls of Jericho again.
Scorpio Sky spoke about having one of the best winning percentages in AEW from day one. He grabbed the giant sonic ring, and that wasn’t enough. Nobody paid attention to him until Dan Lambert. Page then spoke up and talked about never being pinned or submitted in AEW. He called himself overlooked and said he looked and wrestled like a champion, and now that he’s with American Top Team he rolls with champions…
We then got a video package that hyped up Serena Deeb vs. Hikaru Shida for next week’s Dynamite. Back in the arena, Penelope Ford and The Bunny made their entrance. They were followed by Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
5. Tay Conti and Anna Jay vs. The Bunny and Penelope Ford: The announce team couldn’t stop talking about how good looking everybody was for the opening seconds of the match. Conti took a spill to the floor off the apron, and Anna Jay was isolated by The Bunny and Ford. They tripped her on the apron, and Ford landed a double knee drop from inside to outside…[c]
Anna Jay was cut off and isolated during the break, but made a hot tag to Conti as the show returned. Conti landed a springboard splash, and immediately tagged Anna Jay back in. Ford landed a stunner on Anna Jay, and then a gut buster of sorts for a near fall. Conti and The Bunny ended up out on the floor. Ford went up top, but nobody was home on a moonsault. Conti landed a TayKO on the floor on The Bunny. Anna Jay landed a kick and applied her “Queen Slayer” rear naked choke for the win.
Anna Jay and Tay Conti defeated The Bunny and Penelope Ford at 6:11
After the match, Brodie Lee Jr. celebrated with Anna and Tay. We then saw a video package for Thunder Rosa vs. Jade Cargill vs. Nyla Rose for Friday on Rampage…
MJF then made his entrance in the arena. MJF said he wanted the company to be successful, and he was willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. He said more on that later, but AEW was on the cusp of greatness, and called out four pillars of the future of the company. He called out Jungle Boy, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, and Himself. He pointed out that he’s already beaten Jungle Boy and Sammy Guevara, and called himself the greatest, and without him the company isn’t shit.
MJF called himself the past, present and future, and that’s why he deserves to be the AEW World Champion. MJF called out Tony Khan, and said he was in the top 2 Khans in all of wrestling, and if he didn’t get the opportunities he deserved, he had an old friend from MLW Bruce Pritchard on speed dial.
Darby Allin interrupted him, and MJF called him a school shooter on a skateboard, and that he wasn’t a fan of him. He called him the second best guy, and said some of the second best guys have great careers, like Scottie Pippen or Sting. MJF called himself Gretzky or Jordan. Darby told him to go if he’s not getting what he wanted, and called himself AEW for life until death. He then asked how he can be the number one pillar when he’s the only one with a championship between them.
MJF said he respected Darby, because he’s straight edge. He then told the crowd that he’s straight edge because when he was a kid he went drunk driving with his uncle, and when it was all over his uncle died that night. And the real tragedy is that the wrong guy died. Darby closed his eyes but didn’t respond. MJF tried to goad him into hitting him, but Darby said he wouldn’t break him mentally. MJF got frustrated that he wouldn’t break, and walked away up the ramp with Wardlow…
Sammy Guevara vs. Miro is up next. We then got a video package to recap the feud and set up the match…[c]
My Take: The women’s match was just kind of there. Not much to it and it was cut in half by a commercial break with not a lot of action. MJF and Darby is an interesting feud, but Darby delivered his part of the promo so monotone that I wonder if he struggled to memorize it. MJF was good as always on the mic, and he went from 0-100 here on Darby. I’m curious what else they have planned if this was the opening salvo.
Sammy Guevara made his entrance, followed by Miro…
6. Miro vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship: Sammy tried a flying knee to start, but Miro sidestepped it. He tried another one, but Miro smashed him out of the air. He then landed a suplex and played to the crowd. Miro ripped off Sammy’s necklace, which fired him up. He then dove at Miro, and both men crashed over the ropes and to the outside.
Miro ran at Sammy on the floor, and crashed into the ring steps instead. Jumping back into the ring, Sammy attempted a Shooting Star Press on a standing Miro, who kind of caught him. They had to pause to reset, and Miro landed an overhead belly to belly suplex…[c]
Sammy was unable to mount a comeback during the break. Miro landed a release German Suplex, followed by a lariat. Miro pumped up the crowd for another lariat, but Guevara reversed with a Spanish Fly. Sammy landed a kick and a series of knee strikes. Miro charged at Sammy in the corner, but ended up flying all the way out to the floor instead. Sammy followed up by jumping over the ring post out to the floor to splash Miro.
Miro recovered quickly and landed a wheelbarrow uranage for a near fall. Sammy fired back and landed an enziguri in the corner. Both men ended up on the turnbuckles, but Sammy shoved Miro off and landed a leaping cutter. Sammy tried to land the GTH, but Miro blocked it and landed a side kick.
Sammy rolled to the floor, and Miro ripped off the turnbuckle covers. On the fourth corner, Fuego Del Sol ran down and Miro swatted him away. Sammy shoved him into the exposed turnbuckle and followed up with a tornado DDT. He then landed a GTH, and finally went up top for a 630 and got the win.
Sammy Guevara defeated Miro at 13:29 to become the TNT Champion
After the match, the babyface locker room celebrated with Sammy. Excalibur said we’d hear comments from Sammy during the first break from Rhodes to the Top.
My Take: I’m surprised to see Miro drop the title here, if only because I felt they could have an even bigger match later on. That said, Sammy is popular and got a great reaction here. I’m curious to see if they go back to this match right away, or if they have other plans for Miro. This was a solid show, but obviously can’t be compared to the atmosphere of Arthur Ashe last week.
Would it have really been that bad to let Jungle Boy have a roll up fluke win here? I mean, really. Is AEW going to make the same old mistake and hand these WWE castoffs wins on their way up? Jungle Boy would have gotten a tremendous rub out of a win without giving a loss to anyone that’s already a part of the roster. Cole could have waited.
So, we’ve had two references to shooting people, and one comment about the wrong person dying in a car crash. It’s as if AEW doesn’t want to grow their audience.
Also a 16 person shitfest, and we’re now in the final segment of the night and it’s only the second 1-on-1 match of the night (and those are the two best segments of the night by far).
It’s kind of odd that they were so up in arms about the Max Caster entrance rap on a show that most people don’t even watch (or in my case skim through when I’m bored from time to time) yet some of the other speech being thrown around on their flagship program could be considered just as off-putting.
Implying that you are going to pull out a weapon and shoot somebody in that fashion does not make a person sound tough, it makes the person sound like a coward. Sure if a person is trying to carjack you that’s a different scenario, but why even put it out there in a wrestling promo.
So is Leo Rush is on a retirement tour longer than Cher? Or did he announce that just for attention?
He’s like a drug addled Shawn Michaels without the talent
So, will there be a hit piece on AEW mentioning shooting someone in the head? Of course not. But God forbid, Joe Gacy gets headlines for his PC promos. Hope he turns up the mic work next week. Ridiculous hypocrisy.
So are Eddie, Darby, Sting, and Homeless Jon heels now? They win their weird totally random match, then for NO REASON, they have Sting get in the ring post-match and hit his finisher on the guy they ALREADY BEAT? A guy who had done literally nothing to them post match, who wasn’t cheating or doing anything heelish during the match, and was basically just recovering from the movie he had gotten beat with.
Very premature with having Miro drop the title. Very disappointing. Sammy deserves it one day but it shouldn’t have been tonight
Very disappointed in AEW for allowing Arn Anderson to say what he said (assuming they knew he was going to say it). They suspend someone like Sammy Guevara for a stupid comment he made as an 18 year old, when we all say stupid things, and then they let someone who is more than old enough to know better go on air and talk about shooting someone. Very poor indeed.
I don’t get all the outrage about Arn’s comments, he didnt say shoot an innocent person or do some drive by. He said shoot a low life criminal who is trying to harm you and take something you paid your hard earned money for, essentially defending yourself. If more low life criminals were treated as such, logically there would be less crime and we’d all be safer.
The audio was not good at different times.
1st match was really good.
4 man booth was too much.
10 man was a mess the match , everything else was with it fine.
Didn’t expect Arn to talk about shooting someone and then leaving Cody, with Caster on youtube getting in trouble for his stuff and them letting Arn said on live tv was not good.
Really surprised Miro lost since he has been running through everybody.
MJF gold on the mic.
Other matches were just there.
Not only were the comments by Arn in bad taste, but if it’s going to be centered on Cody being a loser, maybe don’t cut it right after he wins a match? Seems a bit counterproductive, even if you’re trying to focus on him losing to Black.