By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite (Episode 194)
Chicago, Illinois at Wintrust Arena
Aired live June 21, 2023 on TBS
[Hour One] The Dynamite opening aired and then pyro shot off on the stage. Excalibur, Taz, and Tony Schiavone were on commentary, and Justin Roberts was the ring announcer… The Hardys and The Gunns made their entrances…
1. Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn. Matt did his “Delete” bit before locking up with Austin to start the match. The crowd serenaded the Gunns with “Ass Boys” chants. Graphics listed the upcoming matches and segments in a lower corner of the screen.
Jeff checked in performed a Whisper in the Wind on Austin. Colten blasted Jeff with a shot to the back of the head while referee Rick Knox was checking on Austin. The Gunns isolated Jeff until he sent Austin to the floor. Colten rolled his brother back inside the ring and then tagged himself in.
Jeff avoided a corner splash from Colten. Austin tagged back in, but Jeff was able to tag out. Matt put down the Gunns with clotheslines and then performed a Side Effect on Austin. Matt followed up with a Twist of Fate and had the pin, but Colten put Austin’s foot on the bottom rope.
Matt pulled Colten up to the apron. Colten clotheslined Matt over the top rope and then Austin got a near fall while using the ropes for leverage. Colten tagged in and executed a neckbreaker on Matt. Jeff ran in and pushed Austin into the pin to break it up.
Jeff worked over both Gunns and performed a Twist of Fate on Colten. Jeff went up top. Juice Robinson showed up and distracted the referee while Jay White shoved Jeff off the top rope. The Gunns hit the 3:10 to Yuma finisher and then Austin scored the pin.
Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn defeated Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy in 7:00.
After the match, White and Robinson worked over the Hardys. Robinson punched Jeff while holding quarters in his hand. He set up to to do the same to Matt, but Ricky Starks ran out. When he was outnumbered, “FTR” Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler ran out to help. With the Hardys still down, FTR and Starks were outnumbered by the heels.
CM Punk ran to the ring without entrance music after the crowd chanted his name. The babyfaces took control. Punk set up Robinson for a GTS, but Robinson slipped away and joined the other heels at ringside. The Punk chants continued.
Punk took the mic and said that if the heels wanted a fight so bad, they would have a match “next week on Collision.” Punk then stated the match would take place on Saturday. Punk labeled himself a Collision guy and said he wasn’t even supposed to be there. Punk called for his music, which played while he, FTR, and Starks celebrated. Punk look into the camera and said he likes the four-on-four odds and said it would be their funeral…
Powell’s POV: I’m not sure what happened to the Hardys after the beatdown, but they were not part of the celebration. The match was entertaining. The Gunns did a lot of quick tags and had some clever spots to isolate the Hardys. More than anything, it was good to see the Hardys work better than they did in their last televised match. The Punk appearance was once again very well received by the Chicago crowd. I guess now we know why there are reports that The Elite were not booked for this episode.
A video aired with Jeff Jarrett talking briefly about facing Mark Briscoe in a concession stand brawl… They cut to the concourse where referee Paul Turner was standing in between Jarrett and Briscoe, who were in front of a concession stand. Jarrett threw popcorn bags at Briscoe. Turner asked both fighters and the women working the concession stand if they were ready and then started the match…
2. Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe in a Concession Stand Brawl. Briscoe ran Jarrett into a table that was leaning against a pillar (no, not one of the four). Mark squirted mustard on Jeff, who then threw hot dogs at Briscoe. A medical masked woman showed up and squirted ketchup in the face of Briscoe, then removed the mask to reveal that it was Karen Jarrett.
Mark quickly battled back and put Jeff on top of a table. Briscoe climbed up a ladder. A hooded Sonjay Dutt climbed up the ladder and shoved Briscoe off the ladder and then he crashed through the table once Jeff moved. They cut to a picture-in-picture break. [C]
The match spilled into the arena and then inside the ring. Jay Lethal got involved and wanted to use the table in the timekeepers area. Papa Briscoe was seated behind the table and stopped him. In the ring, Mark went for the Jay Driller, but Jeff blocked it.
Satnam Singh entered the ring and chokeslammed Briscoe. Christopher Daniels, Trent Beretta, and Chuck Taylor ran out and were beaten up by Singh at ringside. Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo showed up and four of the babyfaces threw simultaneous superkicks at Singh. Fenix performed a springboard dive from the ring onto Singh. In the ring, Penta superkicked Jarrett and then Mark rolled him up for the pin.
Mark Briscoe defeated Jeff Jarrett in 8:30 in a Concession Stand Brawl.
The babyfaces put Mark on their shoulders. Alex Abrahantes was with them. Mark and Papa pointed to the sky to pay tribute to the late Jay Briscoe…
Powell’s POV: A silly match that actually felt really premature in terms of where Briscoe and Jarrett are at in their feud. That said, the live crowd ate it up and seemed to have a lot of fun with it.
Backstage, Jon Moxley spoke while Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita, and Don Callis stood by. Moxley challenged The Elite to a five-on-five match. Moxley said the dream match would become The Elite’s nightmare.
Danielson said he would call out Kazuchika Okada and yet he didn’t believe he was in the building. Danielson labeled Okada an amateur and said that when he called him out and Okada didn’t show up, it would prove he’s a coward…
Excalibur set up the weekly video from the company’s daily fantasy sports partner… [C] Excalibur set up a video package that recapped the premiere edition of AEW Collision…
Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara made their entrance to “Judas” while the broadcast team narrated last week’s Jericho and Sting highlights. Minoru Suzuki made his entrance and received a solid reaction. Their opponents came out together to a modest crowd reaction…
3. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara vs. Darius Martin, Action Andretti, and AR Fox. Guevara and Andretti had an even exchange to start. Guevara walked to his corner and teased tagging Jericho before tagging in Suzuki instead. Jericho smirked. Suzuki blasted Martin with forearm strikes.
Jericho tagged in and then struck Guevara’s pose while Suzuki joined in with a pose behind him (the production team cut to a shot of Guevara nodding and smirking in response, so there wasn’t a good straight on shot of Suzuki posing). They cut to a PIP break. [C]
Andretti tagged in and worked over Jericho while Excalibur recalled Andretti’s past singles win over Jericho. Andretti performed a nice springboard dive onto Jericho and then kipped up and ended up blasting him with a shotgun dropkick. Jericho avoided a moonsault.
Suzuki put Andretti in a sleeper. Martin broke it up. Suzuki smiled and then blasted Andretti with a forearm shot. There was a series of high spots and then Jericho and Fox were left alone in the ring. Fox performed a springboard move onto Guevara and Martin on the floor. Andretti picked up a near fall on Jericho.
A short time later, Suzuki caught Fox in a sleeper and then performed a Gotch style piledriver. Andretti took out Suzuki with a kick. Jericho hit the Codebreaker on Andretti. Martin rolled up Jericho for a two count. Martin performed a springboard Flatliner on Jericho for another near fall. Martin leapt at Jericho from the top rope, but Jericho caught him in the Liontamer and got the submission win…
Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara defeated Darius Martin, Action Andretti, and AR Fox in 10:30.
Renee Paquette entered the ring for a post match interview. Paquette recalled Jericho standing face to face with Sting for the first time ever on last week’s show and asked Jericho what it was like for him. Jericho took the mic from her and said it was a monumental moment that had never been seen before. Jericho said everyone was excited except for him.
Jericho said he’s known Sting for a long time and called him selfish and egotistical. Jericho said he claims to be a hero to millions and yet he just shows up wherever the highest bid comes from. Jericho labeled Sting a whore. Jericho challenged Sting and Darby Allin to find a partner to face him, Guevara, and Suzuki at Forbidden Door. Jericho continued to heel on Sting until he was interrupted.
Sting’s entrance music played and then he walked to the ring with Darby Allin. Sting howled once he was inside the ring and then went face to face with Jericho. A “holy shit” chant broke out. Sting put his arm around Jericho and asked him why he’s uptight. Jericho pulled away. Sting said Jericho was cussing at him.
Sting said a moment is not enough, he needs some time with Jericho. Sting said he plans to have some time with Jericho because he and Allin accept Jericho’s “lame challenge.” Allin said Jericho made a lot of enemies in a lot of places and said they have the guy for Forbidden Door. Jericho demanded to know who it is. “You’ll find out at Collision,” Allin said before placing the mic down and leaving the ring with Sting…
Powell’s POV: A good showing for the babyface trio before they took the expected loss. I like the idea of going with a six-man tag at Forbidden Door and presumably saving the Sting and Jericho showdown for All In or All Out. Jericho faced Omega, Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Evil in NJPW. A few of those guys already have matches, so I’m guessing it’s Naito if it’s someone from NJPW.
Backstage, Tony Schiavone and RJ City stood with a hopper for the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament. Schiavone said they would announce the brackets next week. Schiavone drew some names and acted excited, but he didn’t actually announce any names. Schiavone plugged upcoming segments for the show… [C]
In a segment that was likely taped last week, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and the Young Bucks spoke the BCC’s challenge. Page said the BCC knew Omega already had a match and that’s why they picked a five-on-five match. Omega said they found a friend in an unexpected place.
Eddie Kingston entered the picture. Kingston said he doesn’t like or respect The Elite, but he hates Castagnoli more. Kingston said that makes four members of their team and he wants to pick the fifth person. He said the Elite members may not like this person, but he likes and trusts him and would make the announcement…
Powell’s POV: CM Punk?!? Okay, not really.
[Hour Two] Adam Cole made his entrance for an in-ring promo. Cole asked who was ready for story time. Cole spoke about how he did everything in his power to beat MJF last week, but he didn’t win. Cole noted that MJF didn’t win the match either. Cole said it was the smart and yet also cowardly thing to do when MJF declined to extend the match by five more minutes. Cole called out MJF to talk about his rematch.
AEW World Champion MJF made his entrance. Once in the ring, he told the fans to keep their “poor mouths shut” when the champion is talking. They responded with an uncensored STFU chant.
MJF said he’s worried about Cole because he lost track of time last week. He also claimed that had the time not run out, he had Cole beat. The crowd chanted bullshit. MJF said they had a war and earned each other’s respect. MJF said that because he cares about Cole’s wellbeing, the answer is no. Cole said he assumed MJF would say no. He said they could fight on the spot and he could just whoop MJF’s ass in Chicago.
Tony Schiavone stood up and said he had an announcement. Both men told him to shut up. Schiavone recalled drawing names for the Eliminator Tag Team Tournament. Schiavone said the first name he drew was Cole’s, and the second was MJF’s. Both men scoffed at the idea of teaming together.
Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared on the big screen and called MJF a coward while asking what kind of champion he is. He dared MJF to show up at Forbidden Door so that he could show him the strength of NJPW and The Ace. MJF threw a fit.
Cole taunted MJF by questioning whether MJF feared Tanahashi because he thinks he’s better than him. MJF said no one is on the level of the devil. Cole led the crowd in chanting “coward.” MJF said that if Tanahashi wanted him at Forbidden Door, the match was on. Cole said it was official. “Good luck, partner,” Cole said before leaving a bewildered MJF in the ring…
Brackets for the Owen Hart Cup men’s tournament were shown. CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima meet at Forbidden Door and the winner faces the winner of Roderick Strong vs. Samoa Joe, who meet on the June 29 AEW Collision. On the other side of the bracket, Dustin Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs was listed along with Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks. Both of those matches will be held on the June 29 Collision…
The women’s tournament has Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho on next week’s Dynamite facing the winner of Anna Jay vs. Sky Blue, who meet on Friday’s Rampage. The other side has Nyla Rose vs. Willow Nightingale on Saturday’s Collision facing the winner of Athena vs. Billie Starkz, who meet at the Forbidden Door…
Powell’s POV: Good lord, one poorly explained blind eliminator tournament wasn’t enough, now they unveil the brackets for the Owen Hart Cup tournaments. This is chaos. And that’s how they announced Punk’s first singles match since his return? That said, MJF teaming with Cole is unexpected and could be fun.
4. Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Daniel Garcia. All four entrances were televised. They cut to an early PIP break. [C] A short time later, Sabre hit Cassidy with an uppercut at ringside and they cut to another PIP break. [C]
Cassidy and Shibata had their opponents seated in opposite corners of the ring. They hit stereo dropkicks. Cassidy followed up with a dive onto Sabre at ringside. Shibata got a near fall on Garcia, who came right back and applied his Dragon Tamer. Shibata countered into a heel hook. Sabre broke it up. Cassidy put Sabre down with a DDT.
Garcia and Shibata no-sold some strikes. Shibata put Garcia down with a sleeper and then fought off Sabre. Cassidy threw an Orange Punch that was meant for Garcia, who ducked it, causing Cassidy to hit Shibata instead. Sabre held Cassidy while Garcia rolled up Shibata and pinned him.
Zack Sabre Jr. and Daniel Garcia defeated Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata.
After the match, Garcia and Sabre grabbed the AEW International Title and tugged on it. Excalibur pointed out a graphic announcing that all four men would meet in a four-way for the AEW International Title at Forbidden Door. Cassidy and Shibata returned to the ring and they both grabbed the title too. The heels left. Cassidy yanked his title away from Shibata.
Powell’s POV: I can’t fairly comment on the full match because I spent the first part of it getting the info on the tournament brackets. I’ll watch this back before my audio review later tonight.
An excited Alex Marvez stood in the parking area and said he’d been waiting all day to get the biggest scoop heading into Forbidden Door. He approached Will Ospreay and asked what he was thinking heading into his match with Kenny Omega. Ospreay claimed he needed more security based on some of the things that people had been sending him on social media.
Don Callis showed up and said AEW wouldn’t do anything about it. Callis heeled on the people of Toronto. He said that he has his own private security and he would borrow them to Ospreay in Toronto. Ospreay asked what’s in for Callis, who claimed he just wanted to see a fair fight… [C]
A video package aired on Toni Storm and Willow Nightingale, who will meet for the AEW Women’s Championship at Forbidden Door…
Entrances for the TBS Championship match took place. A graphic listed Eddie Kingston as still to come and the broadcast team was quick to say there was a lot more to go (this all felt like code for “please don’t turn the channel during the women’s match”)…
5. Kris Statlander vs. Taya Valkyrie for the TBS Championship. Statlander ducked a clothesline attempt and then put Valkyrie down with a shoulder block. Valkyrie came back with some nice strikes, but then dove through the ropes when Statlander avoided her. Statlander performed a moonsault off the apron. Valkyrie ended up back in the ring first and then booted Statlander to the floor when she tried to follow heading into a PIP break. [C]
Statlander was in control coming out of the break and picked up a near fall. Valkyrie rallied with a double underhook move and got a nice near fall. Statlander came back moments later with a discus lariat for a two count. Valkyrie put Statlander down with a spear.
Valkyrie placed Statlander on the ropes and executed a sliding German suplex. Valkyrie played to the crowd and then returned to the ring and went up top. Statlander cut her off and superplexed her. Statlander performed an inverted piledriver and scored the clean pin…
Kris Statlander defeated Taya Valkyrie in 9:00 to retain the TBS Championship.
Excalibur hyped the following matches for Rampage: Chaos vs. Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, and Swerve Strickland, MJF’s first appearance on Rampage, The Acclaimed in action, Adam Cole speaks, and Anna Jay vs. Skye Blue in an Owen Hart tournament match, Jack Perry vs. Douki.
Excalibur hyped the following matches for AEW Collision: Punk, FTR, and Ricky Starks vs. Jay White, Juice Robinson, Austin, Gunn, and Colten Gunn, Swerve Strickland vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Christian Cage addresses the TNT Title, Sting and Darby Allin reveal their tag team partner for Forbidden Door, Nyla Rose vs. Willow Nightingale in an Owen Hart Cup tournament match, and Brody King vs. Andrade El Idolo.
Excalibur also ran through the Forbidden Door lineup.. He then plugged Eddie Kingston revealing his team’s partner, and Bryan Danielson calling out Kazuchika Okada…
Powell’s POV: The match was fine. I wish they would have taken more time to build to it. The Excalibur auctioneer segments continue
Eddie Kingston was walking to the ring coming out of the break. Once in the ring, Kingston put on a shirt and explained that he had surgery and ate a lot of ice cream. Kingston recalled saying the doesn’t like or respect The Elite. Some fans booed. “Ah, come on, they’re cute, they’re good guys I guess, I don’t know,” Kingston said before smiling.
Kingston said there’s been a lot of things going on that he doesn’t agree with. He said someone who is supposed to be his homeboy is upset that he’s teaming with the Young Bucks, who doesn’t like or respect. Kingston said he can’t stand Claudio Castagnoli.
Jon Moxley walked through the crowd without entrance music and entered the ring. Moxley went face to face with Kingston, who passed him the mic. Moxley said Kingston is drawing a line at Forbidden Door. Kingston told Moxley that he drew the line when he decided to team up with “that scumbag.”
Moxley mouthed the words every time. Kingston demanded that he finish his thought. Kingston said that if Moxley wasn’t going to say it, he didn’t have time for it. Kingston introduced Tomohiro Ishii as the fifth man. Ishii walked out. Meanwhile, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta attacked Kingston. Ishii tried to help and was outnumbered. Danielson called out Okada and threatened to stomp Ishii’s face.
Kazuchika Okada made his entrance and went face to face with Danielson in the ring while Excalibur hyped their Forbidden Door match as a dream match for the ages. Yuta attacked Okada from behind. Danielson told Yuta to pick him up. Danielson went for his running knee strike, but Okada avoided it and Danielson accidentally took out Yuta.
Okada set up for the Rainmaker on Danielson, who slipped away. Okada picked up Yuta and performed the Rainmaker clothesline on him, then went back to staring down Danielson, who was on the ramp to close the show…
Powell’s POV: The final segment felt really rushed, presumably because they were short on time. The common problem of trying to cram too many things into one show as on full display tonight. As much as I’m looking forward to the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, it’s because of the strength of the key matches on paper and has nothing to do with the chaotic push that this show provided.
I will have a lot more to say about the show in my weekly same night audio review of Dynamite for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons), who will also hear an exclusive same night audio review of Forbidden Door on Sunday. Let me know what you thought of Dynamite by grading the show below.
I guess the story can be The Hardys didn’t wanna celebrate with Punk due Jeff’s history with Punk?
Maybe? I didn’t read anything into it. I think the idea was that they cleared out because they are not involved in the eight-man tag match that Punk was setting up.
Back to back to back:
-Crowd was pretty bummed for “You’ll find out on Collision” for Sting and Darby’s partner. Understandable move for sure, but they really irked the live crowd in the delivery.
-Schiavone pulls the names for the “blind tag” tournament, but won’t tell us those till “next week”, which I assume is Dynamite but who the hell knows (I mean I think Punk’s multi man tag is this Saturday but he called it next Saturday). He’s actually going to tell us in a few minutes anyway.
-Eddie Kingston cuts the worst promo of his life with the Elite and is bringing his own partner to join them… But we’ll find out who that is at a time and place that has yet to be determined I guess
Three mystery partner teases in less than five minutes. The whole show is a commercial for other shows but you gotta at least split up the similar teases.
I thought the Gunns/Hardy match was super super rough, but awesome finish and the angle after was a lot of fun. The Gunns both really need to work on their timing. There was a ton of spots where they were taking the move before it was hit. I only call it out because I really dig them, they just need to tighten up there and they may both be the complete package. Depending on how they play their cards and how they continue to improve I think both Gunns have as good a chance as anyone to be future top top stars in either company.
Oh Eddie’s going to tell us now, great lol
Final thought, I’m 99% sure the last Owen Hart tournament also had a competing tournament happening at the same time.
“A silly match that actually felt really premature in terms of where Briscoe and Jarrett are at in their feud.”
That’s literally every feud AEW does.
Pockets vs Goldberg in London?
That tag team match featuring Cassidy and company just WOULD NOT END. Why couldn’t they rush that instead of literally everything else?
Pockets is Tiny Con’s hero. That’s why he’s their unbeatable champion, why he’s on TV all the damn time, and why the company is built around nothing that will ever succeed on a major level.