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AEW Dynamite
September 30, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

From Daily's Place, with Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Taz calling the action.

Ricky Starks vs. Darby Allin

Starks has a specially decorated body bag, reminding us of the nasty spot at All Out when he powerbombed Allin in a bag full of thumb tacks. Starks slaps the face so Darby dropkicks him through the ropes. Allin quickly goes for a front chancery and reverses a counter to apply a deep armbar. Starks escapes, but Allin reverses a suplex on the ring frame. Darby nails a tope suicida, but Brian Cage arrives to interfere. Will Hobbs runs in for the save and brawls with Cage into the tunnel. Starks manages to gain the advantage and puts Allin in a sharpshooter. Starks' back suplex folds Allin like an accordion. Allin makes a comeback and zeroes in on the softened arm. Allin springboards into Starks' spear for a great nearfall. They jockey for position on the top rope until Allin hits the Coffin Drop to win at 10:02. Good match, these guys seemed eager to please. Dynamite's opening match has become a somewhat prestigious spot over the past year, ***¼.
Winner: Darby Allin

Cody makes his extra special entrance with mood lights and pyro to talk. Cody reminisces about his training with Al Snow, who told him "You'll always wrestle hurt, but not injured," but he never considered a psychological injury. He's now living with the shame of losing to Brodie Lee in 3 minutes and then getting called to Hollywood and describes feeling like an imitator while rubbing elbows with celebrities. Dasha wants to know if Cody will accept Lee's offer for a dog collar match. Cody teases with a "no" but then fiery accepts. Brodie Lee and the Dark Order swarm the ring, and a host of babyfaces rush in for a pull apart brawl. Dark Order regroups at ringside and Brandi dives onto them in a somewhat comical spot. That brings out Anna Jay for an ambush, and Nyla Rose takes advantage of the chaos to beat up KiLynn King. Meanwhile, Lee finds a fresh opening to lunge at Cody, but gets held back yet again.

Earlier, Tony Shiavone interviewed FTR and Tully Blanchard backstage. They argue they did Best Friends a favor by rejecting their challenge, as they don't deserve championship opportunities. SCU, on the other hand, were the first AEW Tag Team Champions, so FTR must beat them. Tony asks about the Young Bucks, and FTR doesn't want to face them because they've blown every chance they've had. Matt Jackson pops in to drop Tony with a superkick, and FTR are offended that he didn't attack them.

Dasha talks to SCU about their match with FTR. Scorpio Sky wants to hop back on the SCU train and see where it goes. Kazarian vows to become two time champs. Shawn Spears lurks and offers a disingenuous "good luck."

AEW Tag Team Championship:
FTR © (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, with Tully Blanchard) vs. SCU (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian, with Christopher Daniels)

I thought this was supposed to be a weird Brush with Greatness stipulation match, but now it seems to be a straight up title match with a 20 minute time limit. That's okay with me, as the previous stipulation felt confusing and unnecessary. Hangman Page joins commentary as he still hasn't given up hope that his team with Kenny Omega can continue. Bell rings and Kazarian and Harwood wrestle to a stalemate. Kazarian scores some shoulder blocks and a hard lariat. Sky tags in with a dropkick. Quick tag to Wheeler, and Daniels gets ejected for tripping him while running the ropes. SCU save face with a double flapjack, and dump Wheeler onto Harwood at ringside. FTR lose their temper and don't see Sky's dive until it's too late. Harwood distracts Sky while Wheeler ambushes with a from behind clotheslines, just in time for a commercial. Back from break, FTR are working Sky over like a couple of bad guys from the 80's. Kazarian gets the hot tag and hits a vertical suplex/jacknife cover for 2. FTR respond with a sunset flip/dropkick combo, and the announcers won't stop talking about the time limit, so it looks like we're going all the way to 20 minutes. SCU come back with a stiff kick into a German suplex for a good nearfall. FTR initially block Sky's double sunset flip, but Kazarian's missile dropkick foils them. FTR overwhelm Kazarian and Wheeler's Dragon Suplex gets a great nearfall. Kazarian looks for a superplex, but FTR counter with an electric chair uranage for another fantastic 2 count. Sky rushes in for frenzied pinfall attempts on Wheeler to no avail. Cash grabs Tully's hand for leverage but the ref kicks them apart, nearly resulting in Sky's roll-up. Sky suplexes Cash back into the ring, but Tully trips and holds down his leg while Wheeler pins him at 15:40! FTR are the new kings of wrestling, ****.
Winners and still AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR

Excalibur announces a tournament to crown a new #1 contender, and the first participants include Kenny Omega! Page is devastated by this development and sulks off. I really do feel for the Anxious Millennial Cowboy, but he cannot possibly be surprised.

Isiah Kassidy (with Marq Quen and Matt Hardy) vs. Chris Jericho (with the Inner Circle)

Jericho tries to Big League Kassiy and it backfires as the upstart overwhelms him with rapid, frenzied attacks. Kassidy gets a very close 2 count on a roll-up, prompting Jericho to throw some closed fists. Kassidy hits a catapult over the ropes but misses a baseball slide dropkick, which allows Le Champion to send him into the rail. Kassidy backdrops Jericho in the crowd, and his bestest buddy, Luther, throws him back. Kassidy hits a wild dive onto the Inner Circle and follows with a Swanton Bomb on Jericho for 2. Jericho comes back with a fierce facebuster to send us to commercial. Back from break, Kassidy reverses a suplex into a neckbreaker. Jake Hager cheap shots Kassidy, but he still reverses Jericho's bulldog to throw him into the buckles. Springboard stunner by Kassidy but Jericho kicks out! Kassidy sneakily hits a low springboard chinbreaker for another 2. Kassidy blocks a Lionsault and then steals the maneuver for a very good nearfall. Codebreaker by Kassidy, but Jericho kicks out at the last second! I love this story of Kassidy stealing Jericho's moves and teasing the huge upset! Right on cue, Kassidy springboards into Jericho's Judas Effect and it's over at 11:10! This was so much fun, ***½.
Winner: Chris Jericho

Luther and Serpentico pick a fight with Inner Circle after the match.

Kip Sabian and Miro hang out at the arcade and Miro is overwhelmed at having to plan a bachelor party during a pandemic. Billy Mitchelll (who?) offers Miro some help.

Dasha interviews Best Friends and Orange Cassidy backstage, but are immediately interrupted by FTR, who dismiss them as lower card comedic relief. Cassidy doesn't let them get the last word and calls them "weenies." Come on, man, words hurt.

Orange Cassidy (with Best Friends) vs. 10 of the Dark Order

10 removes OC's shades and puts them on Jon Silver, who does a goofy dance on the apron, distracting OC. 10 hits a hard power slam for 1. 10's vertical suplex also gets only 1. 10 forces OC's hands into his pockets, but OC cradles him, but 10 answers with a spinebuster. The Dark Order imitate the Best Friends huge, leaving them vulnerable to OC's top rope dive! Tornado DDT by Cassidy and the Orange Punch. The Cop-killa finishes 10 at 3:30! Nice semi-squash, 10 has some raw potential but giving OC a credible win is a good role for now.
Winner: Orange Cassidy

MJF and Wardlow crash an Inner Circle party, bearing gifts! Jake Hager gets a fancy robe and Santana, Ortiz, and Jericho get jackets. MJF gets pissed at Wardlow for forgetting Sammy Guevara's gift. Jericho wants to cut to the point and directly asks MJF if he wants to join the Inner Circle. MJF dodges the question and congratulates Jericho for 30 years in the business before heading out. Sammy declares MJF to be a loser, but Jericho shushes him.

Dr. Britt Baker (with Reba) vs. Red Velvet

This is Britt's first proper match in quite some time. Velvet seems to know this and aggressively goes for the wrist, but Britt reverses with a wrench into the canvas. Britt breaks a wristlock with headscissors and resumes attacking the arm. Britt elbows the face but cannot hold on to a hammerlock. Velvet dishes a leg lariat and bulldog for 2. Britt is pleased with herself after a swinging clothesline and hits a double underhook suplex. Britt ruthlessly knocks Velvet's face against the ropes and hits Sling Blade. Superkick by Britt and a fisherman neckbreaker! Baker's wild head kick finishes at 4:44! Britt is back and looked awesome in this extended squash!
Winner: Britt Baker

Britt puts Velvet in the Lockjaw for good measure.

Eddie Kingston and Lucha Bros. drag poor referee, Bryce Remsburg, to the ring. Eddie argues that he did not tap out to Moxley's bulldog choke last week, and demands answers from Bryce, his friend of 18 years. Bryce questions Kingston's character and almost suffers a beatdown before Jon Moxley arrives with a barbed wire bat. The ring gets cleared out, but Moxley doesn't see The Butcher arrive for an ambush clothesline.

AEW World Championship:
Jon Moxley © vs. The Butcher (with Eddie Kingston and Lucha Bros.)

Butcher has the upper hand from the get go and hits a back suplex. Kingston and Lucha Bros. gloat while Butcher serves ground and pound offense. Cue the commercial! Back from break, Moxley blocks a figure four and hits a neckbreaker. Moxley's penalty kick gets 2, so he lock son a cross armbreaker. Butcher reverses into a half crab and delivers forearm shots to the head. Running power slam by Butcher gets 2, so he reapplies the half crab. Moxley survives , but Butcher continues targeting his bad knee. Moxley breaks free and sidesteps Butcher to send him crashing into the guard rail. Back to the ring, they trade forearms and chops, and Butcher's running crossbody gets a nice nearfall. Butcher counters into a pump handle uranage and leg drop for 2. Desperation superplex by Moxley, but Butcher puts him in a modified ankle lock. Moxley escapes and hits a Piledriver for only 2. Butcher's high crossbody is good, but the Paradigm Shift out of nowhere sets up the Bulldog Choke for the submission at 14:26! Great physicality on display here. This has been a good week for tag team specialists overdelivering in World title matches, ***½.
Winner and still AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley

Final Thoughts: This show made me happy, what more can I ask for?

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