AEW Dynamite - November 9, 2022
by Doc Allen
The Gunn Club (Colten and Austin Gunn, with The Firm) and Swerve in Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland) vs. AEW Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, with Billy Gunn) and FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler)
Billy Gunn rushes at Swerve Strickland and gets restrained by his friends while the fans chant "Daddy Ass!" Dax starts the match and wrecks the Gunn Club with catapults and atomic drops. Swerve gets a tag and aggressively goes after Wheeler. Caster tags, but Swerve cartwheels into a head scissors takedown. Lee tags and absorbs Caster's series of blows. The match breaks down with all the good guys dishing out turnbuckle punches. FTR and The Acclaimed work together to clear out Keith Lee, but FTR rejects a Scissor Party. Back from commercials, Dax dramatically makes a hot tag to Bowens. Leaping leg drop by Bowens gets 2. The Gunn Club answer by hitting Bowens with The Big Rig, Caster breaks the pin. Battle lines are redrawn for a 4 on 4 brawl. Bowens tries a rana, but Lee reverses with a powerbomb onto Caster! Swerve helps out and hits a tornado plancha onto FTR (and his Gunn Club partners, haha). Dax gets up first and superplexes a Gunn onto everyone! Dax puts Austin into the Sharpshooter, Colten breaks it up, but Bowens interrupts with The Arrival. Caster hits the Mic Drop, FTR hit the proper Big Rig, and Bowens pins Austin at 12:23! Fun match that provided lots of fan-service, ***.Winners: The Acclaimed and FTR
MJF video package, consisting of footage from a recent radio interview. MJF makes the case that when he wins the AEW title, it will be a historical moment comparable to Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, etc, winning their first titles and going to have generation-defining reigns. MJF doesn't think Moxley is much of an athlete, but respects him for putting in the work. Sadly, MJF has better starpower upside and will take pro wrestling to another level, and he's sick of waiting for his turn.
Stokely Hathaway video promo. He broods by the river while his voiceover complains about MJF using him to earn a title shot and then disgarding him.
#1 Contender Eliminator Tournament:
Ethan Page (with Stokely Hathaway) vs. Eddie Kingston (with Ortiz)
Eddie looks like a man on a mission and aggressively corners Page for a break. Page fights back with a flying shoulder tackle. Page hits another flying shoulder from the apron, the fans still hate him. Eddie answers with a butterfly suplex for 2. Ethan hits a desperate suplex outside to buy some time. Back from commercials, Kingston reverses a suplex for 2. They slug it out until Kingston nails an Exploder. Hathaway distracts the ref from seeing Page tapping out to the Stretch Plum. Ethan capitalizes with a roundhouse kick. They battle on the top rope until Ethan hits an avalanche Ego's Edge! Cool finish, average match, **½.Winner: Ethan Page
Renee Paquette talks to the Dark Order, Rush, and Jose the Assistant. Since Rush is going to win the Eliminator Tournament, he'd like to defend the AEW title against 10, but not any of the other Dark Order clowns. Silver tells the "Rush-bag" to back off, and they tease a brawl. This wasn't good, but it was brief.
Ariya Daivari puts his butler on the line for a shot at the TNT Championship!
TNT Championship:
Wardlow © vs. Ariya Daivari (with the butler)
Wardlow throws out the butler and headbutts Daivari. Wardlow follows with a big lariat and then a Powerbomb Symphony to win at 1:54. Kind of stinks that Wardlow has been neglected so much over the past few months that he needs to be rebuilt while in the middle of his TNT title reign, but this squash helps.Winner and still TNT Champion: Wardlow
Samoa Joe joins Wardlow while he calls out Powerhouse Hobbs. Wardlow is glad to finally have a proper challenger in Hobbs and vows to take every championship in this company! Joe doesn't like the sound of that and TURNS on Wardlow! Joe chokes Wardlow out while Hobbs looks on approvingly.
Renee Paquette talks to Jade Cargill, who still hasn't regained physical possession of the TBS title since Nyla Rose stole it. Jade is going to handle this situation on Rampage.
Tony Shiavone hosts Dr. Britt Baker and Saraya in the ring. Saraya announces that she's 100% cleared to wrestle, which is bad news for Britt. The fans react like this is good news, which chokes Saraya up a bit. Britt finds the fickle AEW fans to be annoying because they accept "superstars" like Saraya moving in on the fortress she built. Britt accuses Saraya of leaving her house and walking into her's, they don't take walk-ins, so b*tch make an appointment. Sorry, Britt lost me with that last line. Saraya retorts that Britt got handpicked by Tony Khan and fed a bunch of Factory scrubs, and she's only put in 3 years. Saraya reminds us that she once got hit by a car and wrestled on the same day, so Britt has no idea what it takes to truly make it. Saraya has been publicly humiliated and given her neck to the business. They'll meet at Full Gear, which will be Saraya's comeback story, and the biggest match of Britt's career. Britt tries a cheapshot, but Saraya counters into a Paige Turner (or whatever it's called now). Well, I liked this, which means I'm going to spend the rest of the week reading takes about how Saraya cut an all-time bad promo. Wrestling is subjective.
Sonjay Dutt and friends continue to make nice with QT Marshall and The Factory. They're interrupted by Best Friends and Danhausen, who magically make The Factory disappear. Trent is free to challenge Jay Lethal to a match. I am so confused right now.
Trent Beretta makes his entrance but gets jumped by Jay Lethal's chopblock to the knee. Lethal throws Trent over the steps. Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh show up and it looks like we're still going to have a match.
Trent Beretta vs. Jay Lethal (with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh)
Trent is wounded and easy pickings for Lethal, but still manages a backdrop driver! Lethal targets the bad knee with a flurry of offense. Chuck Taylor and Danhausen arrive to provide moral support. Back from commercials, a wounded Trent makes a comeback with elbow strikes and a half n' half suplex. Trent hits a tornado DDT, followed by an avalanche half n' half suplex! Sonjay distracts Trent, but Danhausen helps with a blatant punch to the balls! Singh takes out Danhausen while Lethal hits the Lethal Injection to win at 7:16. Total silliness all around, *¼.Winner: Jay Lethal
Tony Shiavone tries to interview Jay Lethal, but Sonjay Dutt shouts over him. Dutt introduces the LEGENDARY Jeff Jarrett, who has a guitar in hand. Jarrett puts Lethal over for being a ROH grand slam champion, Dutt for having a 181 IQ, and Singh for being a legit 7'5 giant, and the only NBA player to be born and bred in India. Jarrett gets mad at a crewman for "winding" him up and chases him away with the guitar. Jarrett knows how to cut a top notch promo, but I'm still not sure I want him here.
Renee Paquette is backstage with Jungle Boy Jack Perry. He's not going to let Christian Cage and Luchasaurus move on from him. He has a challenge in mind for Full Gear, but wants to do it face to face on Rampage.
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley (with William Regal) comes to the ring for a conversation. Mox reminisces about how when he was young and stupid he tried to fight Regal, and got brutalized. That lesson inspired Mox to train harder so he could hurt Regal, and then get taken under his wing. Young Moxley reminds the Blackpool Combat Club of MJF. Moxley beat the hell out of MJF at All Out 2020, but now he's back, so Mox wonders what will be different this time. Mox thinks it's funny that MJF calls himself the devil, because Mox has seen many bad people do many bad things, and MJF is NOT there. While Moxley thinks MJF will be a great champion someday, it won't be right now, and he vows victory at Full Gear. Tremendous promo from Mox.
The Full Gear clock ticks away while Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks continue to disappear from existence. I take this to mean the Elite will be at Full Gear. Based on recent live event ticket sales, AEW could really use them.
Video promo building up Bryan Danielson vs. Sammy Guevara. Bryan is outraged at the disrespect shown from Daniel Garcia, and he's going to take it out by kicking in Sammy's head. Tough, but fair.
Jamie Hayter (with Rebel and Britt Baker) vs. Skye Blue (with Toni Storm)
Blue has something to prove and starts with an aggressive assault. Hayter whips her into the rails, Blue counters with a shove into the ring post. Blue hits an amrdrag, but Britt grabs her boot, allowing Hayter to hit a backbreaker and overhead throw. Back from commercials, Blue comes back with a shotgun dropkick. Blue misses a Penalty Kick on Britt and hits Rebel, kicks Britt, and lands a crossbody on Hayter for 2. Blue counters Hayter's enziguri for a really soft spinning kick. Blue hits a surprising Code Red for 2! Blue pleads with the ref and nearly gets pinned via a roll-up. They trade kicks, Hayter takes over with chops. They exchange counters until Hayter nails a lariat to win at 6:45. This was messy, I would have liked to see Hayter win faster and meaner to better set her up for the Full Gear title match, *½.Winner: Jamie Hayter
Brian Cage vs. Dante Martin video package. They'll meet in the Eliminator Tournament on Rampage.
Alex Marvez finds Lance Archer beating up Ricky Starks. Talk about random, but I guess they're opponents on Rampage.
2 / 3 Falls Match:
Sammy Guevara (with Tay Melo) vs. Bryan Danielson (with William Regal)
They go straight to exchanging stiff offense. Bryan takes over but Guevera leap frogs into position for a dropkick. Guevara tries a dive but Bryan blocks with a forearm. Shotgun missile dropkick by Bryan forces Sammy to regroup with his wife. Tay shields her husband long enough for Sammy to throw a chair at Bryan to get disqualified at 2:25! Sammy jams a microphone into Bryan's eye and somehow isn't disqualified again. Fans chant "F*ck you, Sammy" to send us to break. They return with Sammy controlling the action. Sammy hits a GTH into Bryan's bloody eye and wins the second fall at 7:50. Danielson blocks a superplex, Sammy botches his leaping counter, but Bryan misses the diving headbutt! Sammy puts Bryan into the crossface! Bryan nearly escapes, but Sammy bites his forehead and cranks in harder. Bryan gets the ropes, Sammy holds on to the 4 count. Bryan angrily fights back with irrational kicks and headbutts. Sammy springboards into Bryan's Busaiku knee! They take a breather while we take another commercial break. They return with Tay Melo getting ejected after interfering too many times. Bryan and Sammy trade forearms to their feet. Bryan suplexes Sammy into a Tree of Woe and unleashes many YES kicks and then a low dropkick to the face. Sammy reverses a superplex into a leaping knee to the face. Sammy then hits a Shooting Star Press to outside! Bryan counters the double springboard cutter into a LeBell Lock! Guevara gets the ropes, so Bryan hits more punishing kicks. Sammy goes for the GTH, Bryan reverses with a poison rana! Bryan hits the Busaiku knee, but Sammy holds on for a Liontamer! Bryan gets the ropes, blocks another GTH, and hits another Busaiku Knee! Bryan traps the arms, but Sammy counters into a big time DDT! Bryan counters Sammy's Swanton Bomb, unloads hammer n' anvil elbows, and reapplies the LeBell Lock to win at 20:36! This started off really middling for most of the first two falls, but was cooking at a MOTYC level in the final segment. Evens out to ***½. Winner: Bryan Danielson
Final Thoughts: I don't have much enthusiasm for this particular episode of Dynamite, except that the Full Gear build is much more focused than previous 2022 pay-per-views. Substandard Dynamite by their own standards.
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