AEW Dynamite - September 13, 2023
by Doc Allen
Live from the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. WrestleTix estimates attendance at 2,521. Our hosts are Tony Shiavone, Taz, and Excalibur.
AEW International Championship:
Jon Moxley © vs. Big Bill (with Ricky Starks)
The hometown crowd cheers on Moxley as he roughs up Bill and flips him the bird. Bill fires an uppercut and taunts the fans. Bill hits a splash into the buckles, Moxley nails some lariats, but Bill boots him outside. Back from commercials, Moxley is amusingly sporting a bloody forehead and manages a desperation superplex. Moxley runs straight into Bill's Black Hole Slam. Moxley bolts up and rubs his bloody face into Bill's, and they slug it out. Moxley blocks a big boot and delivers the King Kong lariat for 2. Moxley rains Hammer and Anvil elbows and applies the bulldog choke. Bill escapes but stumbles around into Moxley's cutter. Starks shoves Mox's groin onto the ropes, and Bill nails a slick big boot for a good nearfall. Bryan Danielson rushes in to fight Starks. Bill gets distracted for a rollup, Starks whips Bryan into the ring steps. Bill chokeslams Moxley for a close 2 count. Bill wastes time taunting the fans, and Moxley surprises him with an armbreaker. Bill submits at 11:28. There was no doubt about who was going over, but they made it fun, **¾.Winner and still AEW International Champion: Jon Moxley
Bill and Starks put the boots to Moxley and Danielson. Claudio Castagnoli makes the rescue but is unable to score any high impact moves before the bad(der) guys slip away. Subtle babyface turn for the Blackpool Combat Club?
Renee Paquette is interviewing Roderick Strong and The Kingdom when Adam Cole stops by to check on Strong's neck. Roddy is offended that NOW Cole cares about him and brushes him off.
Replay of Konosuke Takeshita defeating Kenny Omega and both ALL IN and All Out.
Tony Shiavone is less than thrilled to be hosting Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita in the ring. Don puts Takeshita over as the best "Ace" in wrestling history, but beating Omega twice in one week makes him "The Alpha." They unveil a portrait of their next victim, and it's Kenny Omega's living, breathing, heart: Kota Ibushi. The painting portrays Takeshita about to drive a sword through Ibushi while he begs for mercy. Don stabs the painting with a screwdriver to really drive the point home.
Alex Marvez interviews the Blackpool Combat Club backstage. They challenge Starks and Big Bill to a tag team match on Collision. Rey Fenix tries to fight past a half dozen men to confront Moxley, but gets pulled away. Eddie Kingston quietly slips in to laugh in Claudio's face. There was certainly a lot going on here.
Renee Paquette chats with FTW Champion Hook. Orange Cassidy stops by and wonders outloud why Hook seems so angry all the time.
AEW Women's Championship #1 Contenders Match:
Toni Storm vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose (with Marina Shafir) vs. Dr. Britt Baker
Toni hides outside while Rose dismantles the others. Toni pretends to be on Nyla's side, leaving them vulnerable to sneak attacks. Shida clears the ring for a high crossbody onto everyone outside. Back from commercials, no one has a clear advantage. Toni hits Britt with a German suplex, Nyla with a hip attack, and Shida with a suplex. Nyla blindsides Toni with a Best Bomb. Nyla gives Britt a uranage, Shida reverses a sunset flip and hits a running knee. Katana for Nyla, but Britt breaks a cover with a thrust kick. Curb stomp on Shida, but Toni rolls Britt up to win at 6:24. Not bad, but most of it took place during the picture-in-picture break, **.Winner: Toni Storm
Renee Paquette chats with AEW Women's Champion Saraya and Ruby Soho. Saraya brags about how she's taken everything from Toni, including her mind.
Le Sex Gods come to the ring for some mic time. They're going to wrestle each other for the first time at Grand Slam. They've been together through ups and downs and more ups, and Chris Jericho has a video package to prove it. Jericho tells a story about how he encouraged Tony Khan to sign Sammy Guevara after seeing him on the NWA 70th Anniversary Show. Sammy doesn't want to talk trash ahead of their match, because he looks up to Jericho, he even used to do Codebreakers at home as a kid. Sammy thanks Jericho for changing his life, there'd be no AEW without him. Still, Sammy didn't come here to be Jericho's sidekick, he came to AEW to be the man, so he needs to beat him. Jericho argues that Sammy was brought to AEW to become a main eventer, he'll get a great opportunity at Grand Slam, but he still isn't ready. Sammy scoffs at the casual disrespect, promises to earn some respect, and then they'll win some tag titles. Jericho pulls him into a handshake,.threatens to beat the hell out of him, and expects the same from Sammy. This was awesome and hopefully sells some tickets for Grand Slam.
Renee Paquette talks to AEW World Champion MJF and Adam Cole in their locker room. MJF is injured but happy about it, because he gets a week off! MJF accuses Roderick Strong of faking his neck injury and hopes he gets to beat his manipulative @ss at Grand Slam. Also, he isn't scared of Samoa Joe and he would definitely choke him out given the chance. MJF's fancy math equation proves that he'll win at Grand Slam.
Brian Cage (with Prince Nana) vs. Hangman Adam Page
We're reminded that these guys traded victories in 2021 to make this a rubber match. Cage hoists Page into the buckles for shoulder thrusts. Page blocks a suplex and boots the face. They trade counters until Page hits a leaping lariat. Page flies into Cage's arms but countters with a rana into the ring post. Slingshot plancha by Hangman, but Cage answers with a fiery lariat. Page counters into a rana and nails a surprising 619. Hangman is poised for a Buckshot when he's interrupted by Swerve Strickland's music. Cage capitalizes with a deadlift German suplex to send us to commercials. They return with Cage hitting a swinging slam for 2. They trade elbows until Cage hits a power slam. Page dodges a moonsault and Cowboys Up with a clothesline to outside. Cage catches Page in a dive, but Hangman reverses into a Crucifix slam. Page delivers a top rope moonsault to ringside, followed by a high crossbody in the ring for 2. Cage answers with a German suplex. Fans chant "this is awesome!" Page blocks a German suplex, Cage blocks the Buckshot, but Hangman's inside cradle gets 2. Deadeye by Page gets the pinfall at 12:04! I'm so happy that Page got to win a match with Deadeye, I love it when secondary finishers can end a match once in a while. These two have unbelievable chemistry, I'd welcome much more of this, ***½.Winner: Adam Page
Page grabs the mic and turns his attention to Strickland on the stage. Page thought that Strickland had balls, but it turns out he keeps them in Prince Nana's Burger King crown. Swerve isn't amused and ponders that Hangman is stupider than the Cincinnati education system. He's willing to fight Hangman in his hometown of Seattle, and is happy to let The Embassy tune him up in the meantime. Cage ambushes Page while Prince Nana does an absolute buffoonish dance. The Young Bucks make the save and end Nana's dancing with a SUPERKICK PARTAY! I like how this feud is coming together.
Renee Paquette chats with Daniel Garcia backstage. Garcia is annoyed that he isn't getting more attention for all the viral things he's allegedly done lately. Don Callis interrupts for some recruitment. Garcia silences him with some dancing, but that only makes Callis like him more.
Video recap of The Renegade Sisters beating up Kris Statlander on Collision, which set up the surprise return of Jade Cargill. Jade made the save before hitting Kris with Jaded, signaling her intentions to regain the TBS Championship. The rematch will happen on Rampage, set your DVR.
Darby Allin and Nick Wayne vs. 2point0 (Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, with Jake Hager and Harley Cameron)
2point0 and Hager no longer appreciate Jericho, but they're still pals. The fans randomly chant for Daddy Magic while he locks up with Wayne. The match is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Christian Cage and TNT Champions Luchasaurus. The distraction gives 2point0 a clear advantage heading into commercials. They return with Wayne escaping a chinlock and fighting past 2point0 for the hot tag. Darby runs wild with a springboard Coffin Drop and running corner Coffin Drops. Darby piles 2point0 for a mean shotgun dropkick. Code Red on Parker gets 2. Blind tag to Wayne leads to a flying cutter, but Menard breaks the cover. Darby sacrifices his back to dive onto Menard, and then hits Parker with a Coffin Drop to win at 7:39. Another match that got eaten up by commercials, but the second half was tons of fun, **.Winners: Darby Allin and Nick Wayne
Christian Cage takes the mic to express how bothered he is by the lack of bikini pics of Nick Wayne's mother's Instagram. Also, he's embarrassed by his loss at ALL IN, and challenges Darby and Sting to face him and Luchasaurus at Grand Slam.
Grand Slam Eliminator Tournament Finals:
Roderick Strong (with The Kingdom) vs. ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe
We've got a heel vs. heel main event, but luckily most fans like Samoa Joe no matter what. Joe dominates the feeling out process, forcing Strong to flee to ringside. Joe gives up higher ground but manages to pummel Strong into the canvas. They trade chops and head to commercials. They return with Strong making a comeback with lots of punching and kicking. Strong goes to work on Joe's neck with a chinlock and vice grip. Joe escapes and hits his trademark senton for 2. Power slam by Joe gets another routine nearfall. Strong rallies with running attacks. Joe blocks the Strong Hold and nails a classic uranage. Joe's Musclebuster is interrupted by The Kingdom and Strong capitalizes with a back suplex and Sick Kick. Strong runs into a casual, but nasty lariat, and Joe finishes him with the Coquina Clutch at 11:02. Almost effortless looking good match between two old pros, ***.Winner: Samoa Joe
Joe grabs a mic to taunt MJF and leaves. Strong starts faking a serious neck injury, Adam Cole and medics come out to help. The Kingdom compete with Cole over who looks more concerned while Roddy is stretchered out. Joe returns and puts Colee to sleep with the Coquina Clutch. Maxwell will not be happy about this.
Final Thoughts: This was a good setup show for next week's Grand Slam show, which unfortunately will likely be taking place in an awkwardly empty stadium. I'm concerned that AEW doesn't seem to be drawing all that well (outside of London) and I'm not really sure what the problem is, other than fan perceptions due to the CM Punk situation and the fact that WWE seems to have gotten their sh!t together. I enjoyed most of the promos tonight and am looking forward to Grand Slam as a result, hopefully I'm not the only one.
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