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AEW Dynamite
June 3, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

Show opens with somber piano music and a message supporting Black Lives Matter.

From an empty Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur are calling the action.

AEW Tag Team Championship:
Kenny Omega and Hangman Page © vs. Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford)

Havoc quickly gets dirty against Omega, and Ford's interference allows a running elbow to the head. Havoc hits a wild flapjack and Omega takes a bad bump onto his forehead. Kenny escapes isolation with a suplex on Havoc. Tag to Page, who hits a lariat on Havoc. The champs double team Havoc and swarm him with stereo chops. They block Sabian's springboard and hit a tandem slam. Page blocks Ford's hurricanrana, but drops her at the ref's order. Ford gets ejected, but Havoc takes advantage with a wrench shot on Page for a nearfall. Havoc and Sabian look like a good unit as they work Page over. Omega gets the hot tag and throws Polish hammers. Sabian blocks the Finlay Roll, but Omega hits a pair of rana's. Omega hits Havoc with the Finlay Roll straight into a Backstabber on Sabian. Sabian absorbs the Kotaro Crusher and running SSP but kicks out at 2! Havoc swings a hacksaw but gets caught with a boot. Fallaway slam by Page and a slingshot plancha onto Havoc. Page lariats Sabian but Havoc saves the match. Omega tags but Sabian cuts him off with a tornado DDT. Havoc DVD's Omega onto Page! Sabian's diving double stomps sets Omega up for Havoc's patented DDT, but Page saves at the last second. Sabian continues cooking and hits Omega with a poison rana. Omega desperately hits Havoc with a Snap Dragon and Sabian with a V-Trigger. Omega assists Page in brutal suplexes and powerbombs. The Last Call finishes Havoc at 13:40! Terrific win for the champs' resumes, as Sabian and Havoc gave them all they could handle and more in an exciting opener, ****.
Winners and still AEW Tag Team Champions: Kenny Omega and Hangman Page

Tully Blanchard yells at Shawn Spears for being such a screw up. If Spears wants to be great, he's got to be better. This cuts to Blanchard and Spears hanging out in their ride. Tully says he has Shawn's missing piece, and opens a box to reveal a black glove. Shawn puts it on and seems to understand what he must do. Too bad, I was enjoying Spears as a drunken gambler, but I'm relieved that we won't get any more fake CNN shows.

Brian Cage (with Taz) vs. Shawn Dean

Cage begins the destruction of Dean before the bell. Turns out Fyter Fest will be a two night event in July, per some graphics. Cage hits a buckle bomb and delayed Drill Claw at 1:35! Good squash to get Cage ready for Moxley at Fyter Fest.
Winner: Brian Cage

Taz grabs a mic and calls out Jon Moxley for snickering at him last week. This lures out Moxley, who isn't laughing now. Moxley says he was smiling because going to war against someone like Cage makes him happy. Cage might be a machine, but taking the AEW title away from Moxley can't be done, because he's a different breed of shark who cannot be intimidated. He tosses the mic at Cage and leaves with the final word.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Lance Archer is beating somebody up just because. He's interrupted for an interview and declares to be a monster unlike anything we have seen. Even Jake Roberts is spooked and apologizes for Archer's behavior.

Last week, Marq Quen was injured while hitting a dive. He and Isiah Kassidy try to cheer up at the bar, when they're interrupted by Matt Hardy. They gush and Quen shows off some dance moves, so he's alright! Hardy calls them the future of tag team wrestling and says they remind him of the bond between him and his own brother. They will have a Hardy Party sometime later. Matt strolls into Sammy Guevara limping down the hall on his walker. Matt says they're cool and leaves Sammy dumbfounded.

Recap of last week's polarizing encounter between Chris Jericho and Mike Tyson. Some see it as a good piece of business that will bring mainstream viewers to AEW, others see it as a half-baked retread of Tyson/Austin.

Colt Cabana vs. Chris Jericho (with the Inner Circle)

Sammy Guevara attempts to sing along with "Judas" on the mic, but mumbles many lyrics. Hilarious, but imagine how confusing this would be to any new viewers. Guess they better get with the f'n program quick. Shiavone buries Sammy's singing anyway. This is a total dream match, by the way. Hot start for Jericho, but Cabana fires back with knife edge chops and throws Le Champion through the ropes. Colt stares down Jake Hager before hitting him and Jericho with an Asai moonsault. Hager pays him back with a shove off the buckles. Jericho is in firm control just in time for advertisements! Back from break, Colt is fighting an uphill battle. Colt counters the bulldog to straddle Jericho in the buckles. Jabs by Cabana and bionic elbow. The Flying Apple connects and the big splash gets 2. Colt ducks a Lionsault, but Jericho reverses the Superman press into the Liontamer. Avalanche Frankensteiner by Colt only gets 2! Sadly, the Judas Effect out of nowhere finishes at 9:50! Good match, and I like the continued efforts to establish the Judas Effect as a surprise Game Over maneuver, ***.
Winner: Chris Jericho

Jericho promises to do the same thing to that piece of sh!t, Mike Tyson. He wants a fight so he can shove his stupid head up his stupid @ss, and calls Tyson out right here and now. Jericho wants "the baddest man on the planet" which inadvertently lures out Orange Cassidy. OC casually puts Jericho's hands in his own belt like pockets and does the same. OC avoids attacks from Hager and Jericho and slips out into the crowd with his Best Friends buddies. I love the idea of OC vs. Jericho at a major event.

Training montage for Dr. Britt Baker. She's stuck in a wheelchair, but dramatically weight trains, well, ignores her trainer and takes short cuts, like tossing away heavy weights in favor of light ones. This was cute.

Britt is seated in her own throne to watch her competition. AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida is watching from the crowd like a normal spectator.

Big Swole vs. Nyla Rose

Swole works a headlock and powers into a takedown. Rose goes for the hair, but Swole applies an abdominal stretch. Rose reverses a hip toss but misses a charge and falls over the ropes. She sweeps Swole face first onto the apron and drives her into the ring frame. Rose is in charge heading into a commercial. They return with Rose dominating the action with a backbreaker. Swole makes a comeback and leaps into a cutter for 2. Swole dodges a charge and hits a bicycle kick for 2. Swole counters into a chop block and kicks the back of the head. Rose pops up for a timely spear, but the Beas½½.
Winner: Nyla Rose

Tony Shiavone interviews the loser, Big Swole, but Britt Baker shouts over her from her trailer throne. Swole grabs a chair, and Baker flees on her ride (er, it crashes into a wall, and the camera pans to make it look like she escaped). Hilarious for the wrong reasons.

Shiavone tries to get a word with Darby Allin about the situation with Taz. Allin stares straight ahead and vows to get the last laugh.

Shiavone sits down with FTR, the team formerly known as The Revival. They explain that "FTR" stands for whatever they want in any given situation. They are grinning about all the great tag teams ahead of them. They want to teach some rules to Lucha Bros. and have their eyes set on Page and Omega. They dismiss the Young Bucks, as they did not enjoy seeing them gain accolades from Dave Meltzer, so facing them would not be their idea of a dream match. They explain they didn't attack the Young Bucks last week because they need to be 100%, so there will be no excuses when they win. The interview wraps up, and the Butcher and Blade storm in looking for a fight. FTR wants to settle this like businessmen in the ring, but can't help but throw a water bottle, protected by a pull apart mob. Looks as though FTR are playing subtle heels and I like it.

Interview with Colt Cabana about his loss to Jericho. Colt is frustrated because despite his good record, he's losing all his big matches. Mr. Brodie Lee arrives and offers to help him. Colt doesn't want to be a part of the Dark Order, but accepts their water bottle.

TNT Championship:
Cody © (with Arn Anderson) vs. Jungle Boy

They lock up and Cody gains a headlock takeover. Jungle Boy answers with a head scissors takedown. Cody gets a bit mean with a hard forearm shot and applies a Figure Four. Cody holds on despite a rope break, and misses the Disaster Kick. Jungle Boy hits a leaping DDT for 2. Suicide Dive by JB is good, but a second dive is blocked by Cody, and he throws the challenger onto the Gunn Club! They take a commercial. Back from break, and Cody is ruthlessly controlling the match, but misses a headbutt and hits the wall. MJF tells off Jungle Boy from the front row. Meanwhile, Cody blades, giving JB a fresh target. Cody desperately hits a bicycle kick, but JB answers with a clothesline for 2. Cody counters with a delayed vertical superplex, but JB kicks out! Cody considers whipping with his weight belt. Instead, they meet at the top rope and both go flying out and through a ringside table! Back to the ring, JB counters a sunset flip, but Cody rips him into Cross Rhodes for the win at 12:56! High drama on display, even if one could argue that this was a bit self-indulgent on Cody's end, ***½.
Winner and still TNT Champion: Cody

Cody's Nightmare Family joins him for the celebration while Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt check on Jungle Boy. Cody hoists JB's arm to fireworks. The only thing missing is a reaction shot from MJF.

Final Thoughts: Truly great edition of Dynamite, with lots of good in-ring action and developing story threads. I'm glad to have this show to look forward to every week.

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