AEW Dynamite
February 19, 2020
by Samoa Rowe
From the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, Excalibur, and Taz.
Tag Team Battle Royal
Featuring The Young Bucks, Proud and Powerful, The Dark Order, The Butcher and Blade, Hybrid 2, Jurassic Express, SCU, Best Friends, Strong Hearts, and Private PartyWinners face the Tag Team Champions at Revolution. Bell rings and it’s SLOBBER KNOCKER time! Sky and Kazarian hit stereo crossbodies onto the field. Jack Evans tries the same trick, but the guys catch him and he gets tossed out by about six guys. Jungle Boy avoids elimination by wrapping himself around the ring post. Isiah Kassidy hits the Silly String DDT on T-Hawk and dumps him. Alex Reynolds and Jon Silver put on their Dark Order masks and join late to attack SCU. The Dark Order distracts at ringside, teasing that the Exalted One is near, which makes SCU easy pickings for eliminations. Sky dives onto Grayson and Evil Uno and they brawl away. Meanwhile, CIMA and Trent exchange chops and then CIMA double stomps the head. Iconoclasm by CIMA, and Proud and Powerful finally join the match. CIMA recovers and tries to suplex Jungle Boy off the apron, but Luchasaurus saves with a pump kick. Jurassic Express take over the match, which means they’re almost done. The Bunny’s distraction allows Butcher and Blade to ambush the Express. Dark Order return to ringside and try to recruit CIMA, who is astonished, but doesn’t say no. Meanwhile, Nick blocks PnP’s suplex and cleans house with quick kicks. Butcher back drops Stone Cold Nick Jackson to ringside. Butcher backdrops Jungle Boy onto Private Party and Matt Jackson. Luchasaurus and Butcher slug it out. Crowd loves it as Luchasaurus hits a roundhouse kick and Butcher answers with a lariat. Santana dumps Quen, blocks Silly String, and Ortiz helps launch Kassidy onto his partner. Luchasaurus headbutts Angelico out. PnP knock Jungle Boy off the apron. PnP and Butcher and Blade team up to dump Luchasaurus. Best Friends brawl with Butcher and Blade at ringside. Best Friends swarm Ortiz with the Sole Food Suplex, but Butcher breaks up their hug and dumps Chuckie. Blade tries to toss Trent, but Orange Cassidy catches him on his shoulders for a huge pop. Matt Jackson and Trent dropkick Blade out. Matt and Trent work together for a SUPERKICK PARTAY and then hug it out! Butcher plows through them. Trent pulls Butcher onto the apron, where Orange is waiting to make another save if needed. Bunny kicks Orange in the groin, allowing Butcher to drop Trent without his help. Matt spears Butcher off the apron, but Matt flew through the middle rope, so he’s alone against Ortiz and Santana. Double rolling suplexes by Matt! Sammy Guevara arrives to trip Matt. PnP hit the Street Sweeper and toss Matt, but don’t realize that he held on. Matt superkicks Ortiz off the apron, and decapitates an interfering Sammy with a mid-air superkick (I seriously hope Guevara is okay). Matt dumps Santana and wins it all at 18:04! This was the best battle royal in forever, it forwarded a bunch of different angles, got over big time with the live crowd, and had the absolute right outcome, ***½.
Winners: The Young Bucks
Hometown hero Cody arrives at the arena with Brandi and Pharoah. Cue the loud "Cody" chants.
Dr. Britt Baker joins commentary to scout her competition and keep verbally abusing poor Shiavone.
Shanna vs. Kris Statlander
Statlander boops the referee, as a sign of respect. They exchange holds, and Shanna earns applause for cartwheeling into a wristlock reversal. Statlander answers by cartwheeling all over the place before hitting a head scissors takedown. Shanna doesn’t take kindly to getting booped, and the booping becomes aggressive, and it leads to a pie facing exchange. Statlander’s momentum is cut short by Shanna’s knee lift to send us to commercial. They return just in time for Statlander’s comeback. Powerbomb by Statlander gets 2, and Baker worries about Shanna’s dental health. Shanna kicks Statlander into a tree of woe for a double stomp to the chest for only 2. Shanna counters with a tornado spike DDT for a decent nearfall. Mild "This is awesome" chant as Shanna dropkicks the face for another 2. Jawbreaker by Statlander and her patented piledriver finishes at 8:08. Good showcase for Statlander for picking up a win over a game competitor, **½.Winner: Kris Statlander
Tony Shiavone hosts new AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose on the stage. Rose ignores Tony and nags the crowd for their lack of ovation. Rose calls the fans "a bunch of annoying bees buzzing around" and says her title win was justice, because she should have been the first champion. Rose says waiting made her hungry, and when she gets hungry she "breaks b!tches." Tony pleads that Riho showed courage, and Rose yanks the mic away and says courage got Riho nowhere, and she represents power and is the queen bee in this hive. Looks like somebody took notes during promo class. Kris Statlander shows up and boops the title. Big Swole struts out and flexes in Rose’s face. Security and referees arrive to prevent any further altercation.
Video package putting over the hired gun, Jeff Cobb, who apparently has not signed any sort of contract and is working on a per date verbal basis with both AEW and ROH.
Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb
The Inner Circle shows up in the front row, as Chris Jericho makes sure to flash his ticket. Bell rings and Cobb quickly hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Irish whip into a dropkick by Cobb, who then pursues Moxley to ringside. Moxley comes back with a low dropkick and slingshot crossbody to the floor. Cobb cuts Moxley off with targeted headbutts. CUE THE COMMERCIAL! Back from break, Moxley blocks Tour of the Islands and hyperextends Cobb’s knee over his shoulder. Moxley ties the knee in the ropes for a running dropkick and then smashes it around the ring post. Cobb hits a desperation Tour of the Islands, but lifts Moxley out of the cover to continue the attack. Moxley reverses into a heel hook, but quick rope break by Cobb. Moxley’s flying axe handle is countered into an overhead suplex on the floor! Running power slam by Cobb gets 2. Moxley answers with some knee strikes but Cobb hits a snap German, but Moxley pops up for a big lariat. Moxley hits a flurry but Cobb clothesline him off his feet. Paradigm Shift is blocked and Cobb hits a running uppercut. Cobb hits a top rope vertical suplex, but Moxley counters the cover and steals the pinfall at 11:16! Great showing for Cobb in his debut and gutsy win by Moxley, who continues to get himself over on another level heading into Revolution, ***½.Winner: Jon Moxley
The Inner Circle swarms Moxley immediately after the bell. Dustin Rhodes runs in to help and goes for Jake Hager, but falls to the greater numbers. The lights go out (oh boy, here we go...) and Darby Allin arrives on the scene to a great pop. Allin skates to the ring to "Darby" chants. Allin cleans house with skateboard shots! Cobb tries to suplex Allin, who lands on his feet for another skateboard shot. Moxley drops Cobb with the Paradigm Shift, and finally finds himself alone with Le Champion. Jericho and Moxley exchange wild pops the the crowd LOVES THIS! Jericho quickly retreats with the AEW title and tries to save face on the stage. This was tremendous, Jericho vs. Moxley feels like the Feud of the Year, and they added some fire to Dustin vs. Hager and Darby vs. Sammy.
During the commercial, Darby steals Guevara’s cue card shtick, and vows to take Sammy’s voice at Revolution.
AEW Tag Team Championship:
The Elite ©(Kenny Omega and Dangerous Alcoholic Hangman Page) vs. Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix)
Crowd adores Page and Omega before the bell and chants "Cowboy sh!t." Page starts against Fenix and they trade counters until Page nails a big boot. Omega tags in and hits a glancing Kotaro Crusher for 2. Omega’s extra vicious backbreaker also gets 2. Fenix fights back with open hand chops but Page smashes him in the chest and hits an overhead slam, but Pentagon breaks the pin with a double stomp. Fenix eats Page’s running SSP and Omega’s moonsault, but survives. Pentagon finally tags in and the Lucha Bros. take over with chops and rana’s. Fenix monkey flips Pentagon into a cannonball onto Omega. COMMERCIAL! Back from commercial, Omega is clutching his leg while getting double teamed by Lucha Bros. Desperation tornado DDT by Omega and he rolls into a hot tag to Page. Sliding lariat by Page gets 2 on Pentagon. The match breaks down with all four guys in. Pentagon hits some superkicks, but Omega tosses him into Page’s German. Pentagon comes back with a DESTROYER and all 4 guys take a rest to a big ovation. Omega and Pentagon chop it out on the apron. V-Trigger on the apron by Omega, but Fenix catches him with a drive by flying knee. Pentagon teases a piledriver, but Omega back drops him on the apron. Fenix hits a dive and Page blows the roof off with a top rope moonsault to ringside. Page’s lariat gets 2 on Pentagon. Slingblade by Pentagon, and Fenix catches Omega with a missile dropkick. Popup powerbomb by Page and reverse V-Trigger by Omega! Page misses a buckshot and hits Omega! Fenix hits Page with a dive and Pentagon hits the Pentagon Driver but OMEGA KICKS OUT! AWESOME FALSE FINISH! Omega snap Dragons Pentagon and catches a flying Fenix with a V-Trigger! Tiger Driver ‘98, but FENIX KICKS OUT! Fenix blocks One Winged Angel, but the Elite catch him with the V-Trigger/Buckshot combo and win at 15:08! Excellent title match here, I went from thinking "Yeah, yeah, Elite definitely wins" to "Holy crap, Lucha Bros. are going to win." ****½.Winners and still AEW Tag Team Champions: Hangman Page and Kenny Omega
Young Bucks arrive to congratulate their Elite brothers, but Page would rather drink beer with the fans.
Video package introducing the first line of AEW ACTION FIGURES! The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are presented with their first toys and they totally mark out over themselves. Chris Jericho likes his toy too, but he’s used to having action figures. Brandi gushes over her’s, and Cody turns into a child over his sledgehammer wielding doll. I want all of them.
Steel Cage Match:
Wardlow (with MJF) vs. Cody (with Brandi Rhodes and Arn Anderson)
Tentative start with Wardlow flexing. Cody scores an uppercut but Wardlow blocks getting smashed into the cage. Disaster Kick by Cody, but Wardlow responds with a hard clothesline. Wardlow throws Cody into the cage, and the wall has a good bounce to it. COMMERCIAL! Cody got busted open during the commercial and is mounting a comeback until Wardlow knocks him down again. I’m worried that Wardlow isn’t very good, as he’s been punching and kicking like a WWE prospect from the mid 2000’s. Wardlow hits a spin slam and gloats. Cody hangs out the door while J.R. explains that you can’t win by escaping. MJF orders Arn to turn on Cody, but instead he slams the door into MJF’s face. Cody stumbles through a comeback, hitting a powerslam for 2. Wardlow press slams Cody into the wall. Wardlow nails a Swanton Bomb but Cody kicks out! MJF slps the Dynamite Ring through the cage but Cody blocks the loaded punch with a low blow. Cody puts on the ring and MJF climbs the cage, only to take some chair shots from Brandi! MJF gets in her face, so Anderson shoves him into the barricade. Meanwhile, Cody hits Cross Rhodes for only 2! Ooh, they must like Wardlow is they’re letting him kick out of that. Cody climbs to the top of the cage and nails a sick moonsault for the win at 11:18! Cool finish and great win for Cody, but this featured all kinds of bells and whistles to hide the fact that Wardlow isn’t all that good, **¾.Winner: Cody
Final Thoughts: Man, I wish that cage match had been better, because this was shaping up to be an all time great TV show. Still, despite a mild misfire in the main event, this show is firing on all cylinders and has become somewhat underrated since 2020 began.
Final Thoughts: Dynamite is now firing on all cylinders. This was a complete joy from start to finish.
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