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AEW Dynamite
September 16, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

From Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur. I *think* there are only wrestlers in the crowd, as this was taped last week due to uncertainty as to whether this would be a Wednesday or Thursday show, based on the NBA playoffs.

Jurassic Express are ready to face FTR when the Young Bucks show up unannounced and drop the referee with superkicks. They arch straight to the back and toss a stack of bills at Tony Khan and jaw at FTR, who seem amused.

Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy, with Marko Stunt) vs. AEW Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, with Tully Blanchard)

FTR go right to work on JB's arm. JB answers with a wristlock takedown and bounces off the ropes for an armdrag. JB throws some dropkicks and traps Harwood's arm for a tag. Wheeler slips away from Luchasaurus to ambush JB, and but the dinosaur shakes off interference to hit a powerslam for 2. JB flips off Luchasaurus' back for a senton on Harwood. JB hits a double rana on FTR, but Wheeler's power slam cuts him off. Wheeler knees the ribcage and applies a bow and arrow stretch. FTR put Jungle Boy through the meat grinder with quick tags. Luchasaurus gets a proper hot tag and looks awesome mowing through FTR. Jungle Boy tags himself in while Luchasaurus hits tail spins, and lariats the back of Harwood's head for a 2 count. Harwood answers with a nasty back suplex. Jungle Boy reverses Wheeler's slam into a nearfall and gets some sneaky pin attempts on Harwood. Harwood rolls through a crossbody but JB reverses the roll-up for a great nearfall. Jungle Boy and Harwood trade brutal uppercuts and gets a 2.9999 on an inside cradle. Meanwhile, Luchasaurus leaps over the rail to take out Wheeler. JB gets a roll-up on Harwood but Wheeler returns to assist for the dirty win at 12:16! I love this matchup, these teams have great chemistry. I was totally buying Jurassic Express' upset down the stretch, ***½.
Winners: FTR

Backstage, somebody has taken out Matt Hardy! Private Party are trying to help, but Chris Jericho and Jake Hager arrive to make fun of the situation.

Kenny Omega joins commentary to watch Page vs. Kazarian. He's also worried about Matt Hardy.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page

Kazarian and Page have an aggressive start while Omega reiterates that he wants to focus on his singles career. Page impressively counters into a powerslam, but Kazarian answers with hard chops. Snap suplex by Page but Kazarian bounces back with more chops. Page scores a dive to send us to picture-in-picture. Back from break, they're trading hard strikes. Page lands on his feet in a German and dishes out a lariat. Fallaway slam by Page leaves them both down for a breather. Page kips up and hits the running SSP. Kazarian answers with a leaping spike DDT. Kazarian then counters into an Unprettier for 2. Page recovers with a sliding lariat and DVD for 2. Kazarian hits a slingshot cutter for another nearfall, which impresses the fake crowd. Page hits a sitout powerbomb for a piped in “This is awesome” chant. Page misses an opening for a buckshot lariat and can't hit a moonsault off the apron, so he lariats Kazarian into the rails. Kazarian misses a leg drop and Page fires off the Buckshot Lariat for the win at 13:53! Great physical battle, these guys could be contributing so much more to the singles division, ***½.
Winner: Hangman Page

Page looks for Kenny Omega's approval, but his partner is gone. He settles for nice cold beer instead.

MJF (with The Wardlow) vs. Shawn Dean

MJF pokes the eyes and locks on the Salt of the Earth for the instant submission at 0:06. Pumpkin squash.
Winner: MJF

MJF demands a mic and cuts a smarmy promo about how he's an honest man, unlike Dictator Jon Moxley, who cheated at All Out. MJF orders Justin Roberts announce him as the undefeated world champion, otherwise he gets a visit from Wardlow. MJF is considering joining a stable, since that's the only way to get a fair shake in AEW. He's still better than all of us and we know it.

Taz breaks down footage of Ricky Starks and his excellent moveset.

Eddie Kingston, Lucha Bros, and Butcher and Blade are in the ring for an Eddie speech. He reminds us that he never lost the Casino Battle Royal. He puts over his stable as more family than faction. He orders Butcher and Blade to beat up some of the wrestlers in the audience, and they serve them up for Lucha Bros' tandem splash. Butcher and Blade hit a powerbomb to set up Fenix' flying double stomp. Eddie orders Blade to get his house in order, which is probably code for "Get Allie back." I'm not sure if there's a longterm plan for this oddball stable angle or if they're just winging it, but they haven't lost me yet.

Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) vs. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho and Jake Hager)

Hot start for Private Party, who have more experience as a team than Jericho and Hager. They hit stereo dives and the fake crowd loves it. Inner Circle ruthlessly take control of the match by isolating Quen. Hager runs into Quen's boot and eats a crossbody. Hot tag to Kassidy who springboards in for a dropkick on Jericho. Kassidy blasts Jericho in the face, but Hager bats him in the knee. The Inner Circle are in firm control as they head to picture-in-picture. They return with Hager working a chinlock, and I wonder if I tuned in to USA or FOX by accident. Kassidy counters with Silly String! Quen gets the hot tag and runs wild through Jericho. Quen dropkicks Hager to ringside and nails a wild dive. Quen's springboard crossbody on Jericho gets a fun nearfall. Private Party hit their own version of Poetry in Motion, and Kassidy's apparent back injury gets in the way of his lateral press. Kassidy counters into a rana on Jericho for another great nearfall while Quen and Hager spill to the floor. Kassidy ducks the Judas Effect and nearly steals the win with a pinfall before hitting a springboard stunner. Kassidy misses a senton and Jericho hits the Judas Effect to win handily at 13:03. This way overdelivered, Private Party teasing the upset was so much fun, and Jericho and Hager are clicking as a team, ***¾.
Winners: The Inner Circle

Jericho and Hager attempt a beatdown, but Quen clears them out. It looks like these teams may need to meet again.

NWA Women's Championship:
Thunder Rosa © vs. Ivelisse (with Diamante)

I'm glad to see Ivelisse and Diamante getting some time on Dynamite, it was disappointing to see them disappear after winning the WTTCT. Thunder Rosa sticking around after coming up short against Shida at All Out is an encouraging development. Bell rings and they trade arm drags and bump foreheads. Rosa hits a top rope armdrag and back drop. Ivelisse answers with a thrust kick and arm drag. Flying rana by Ivelisse, but Rosa grins before hitting a dropkick. Running boot by Rosa gets 2! Ivelisse answers with a knee strike to regain control in time for picture-in-picture. Back from break, Rosa hits a dragon screw legsweep. Rosa builds steam with a sling shot double knees to the gut. Running dropkick to the face by Rosa gets 2. Ivelisse answers with a tiger driver for 2. Rosa gets a crossface and DVD for 2! Ivelisse hits her patented kick to the head for a great nearfall. Rosa counters with a Tombstone Piledriver to win at 9:35! Wonderful back and forth match, with a sense of urgency, and one of the better AEW women's matches around, ***¾.
Winner and still NWA Women's Champion: Thunder Rosa

Diamante tries to put the boots to Rosa after the bell, but Hikaru Shida runs in for the save. Shida hands over the NWA title and lets her have a moment.

Backstage, Miro is pumping iron while Penelope Ford spots him. Miro pops up to interrupt a Kip Sabian promo, as he's more interested in planning a cool bachelor party.

Lance Archer storms to the ringside area and pulls in a jabroni from the crowd for a chokeslam. Jake Roberts lingers behind and puts a poetic promo comparing Archer's dominance. He admits that Archer needs tag team partners for a six man next week and invites Team Taz to join them. Taz answers the call alone and says that Brian Cage and Ricky Starks would be happy to do business with them. Taz throws in a stipulation that if Archer becomes champion, he needs to give his first title shots to Cage and Starks. Archer says that's fine, because he's going to put Moxley down and become a killer world champion. They're interrupted by AEW World Champion Jon Moxley in the stands. Before he can speak, he's ambushed by Starks and Cage. Will Hobbs runs in with a chair to clear out the bad guys. Moxley reveals Hobbs and Darby Allin as his partners for next week.

Parking Lot Fight:
Santana and Ortiz vs. Best Friends (Trent and Chuck Taylor)

Bell rings, and they start brawling around a garage full of scattered cars. Santanan and Ortiz are wearing Dead Presidents inspired face paint. Trent throws Ortiz onto a car and slams the hood onto him, and Santanan misses a somersault senton off the top and hits his own partner. Trent follows with a purposeful senton onto the hood! Best Friends bridge a wooden plank onto a truck… for later, and resume brawling. Santana brings in a baton for some crippling blows and Trent and Chuck. Santana flapjacks Trent's skull into the truck! Chuck drags Ortiz onto a car for a suplex! A plank gets bridged against a car for Trent's spear on Ortiz! Santana pummels Trent into a heap, but gets slammed onto a car hood. Trent misses a tornado DDT and gets his brain scrambled with a trash lid. Chuck drapes a guard rail against a car and suplexes Ortiz through it. Santana breaks a 2x4 over Trent. Ortiz recovers and powerbombs Trent on top of a car. Santana and Ortiz slam Trent through a windshield. Chuck tries to choke out Santana but takes a back drop onto a hood. Trent's back is bleeding as Santana and Ortiz pick him apart with weapon shots. Santana prepares to end it with a steel pipe when Orange Cassidy pops out of a trunk to ambush with a Superman Punch. OC serves Santana to Chuck for a piledriver onto a hood! Meanwhile Trent drives Ortiz through the wooden plank for the win at 12:40! This was an incredible garbage brawl. This was a great throwback to the Attitude Era, but better! ****
Winners: Best Friends

Best Friends retreat into Trent's mom's new minivan and take off. Trent's mom flips off Santana and Ortiz as they leave!.

Final Thoughts: I know I'm supposed to be a critic, but I spent this entire show marking out, and I think that speaks for itself. Big thumb's up.

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