AEW: Dynamite - Fight For the Fallen Review - July 27th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

Fight for the Fallen 2022

July 27th, 2022

Worcester, MA

AEW World Champion: CM Punk (since 5/29/22)

AEW Interim World Champion: Jon Moxley (since 6/26/22)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee (since 7/13/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Wardlow (since 7/6/22)

1) Jon Moxley (c) vs. RUSH - AEW World Championship Match 

Listen, firstly, I’m not calling Mox the interim World champ because that’s just short selling this run he’s having. Rush had an insane match with Dragon Lee this past weekend and that was enough to get me hyped for this considering how killer Mox is right now. We get the best Mox entrance in recent memory as he comes out super fired up and throwing bottles in the crowd. This match couldn’t have happened at a more perfect moment in time. Rush gets the jump on Moxley early and we see blood from the forehead of the champion just minutes into this. This was a great brawl that fell into the vein of Moxley’s style of match while also leaning into Rush’s brawling side which truthfully isn’t very far off from Moxley’s in a way if you look at some Rush’s past grudge matches and such. This just rocked. Stiff strikes, suplexes, nearfalls and some blood. Everything you expect from 2022 Mox and nothing less. Everything you’d want from Rush after his barnburner with his brother last weekend. Andrade tried to run down to interfere, but the Lucha Bros made the save and ran them off which added some drama to the final stretch. Mox retains off of a paradigm shift. 

Match rating - ***3/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - May 4th, 2022

AEW Dynamite

May 4th, 2022

Baltimore, Maryland

 AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Adam Cole opens the show to a massive pop to join commentary for the opening match.

1) Jeff Hardy (w/ Matt Hardy) vs. Bobby Fish (w/ Kyle O’Reilly) - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier 

Yeah this suuuucked. Not like offensively bad.. but not anywhere near good. Crowd was hot! And it was cool seeing Jeff in singles action. That’s about it though. Jeff took a falcon arrow which was nutty. Swanton bomb ends it and Jeff advances thank the lord. I’m dying to see Jeff/Darby in the tournament itself. 

Match rating - ** 

THEY AIR THE EPIC LEGENDARY REGAL BCC PROMO FROM “ROAD TO” IN ROUTE TO OUR NEXT MATCH 

2) Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, & Wheeler Yuta vs. Angelico, The Butcher, & The Blade 

NOW WE GET SOME GOOD SHIT. Butch & Blade deserve this match even though the outcome is obvious. Angelico is making TV for the first time in forever which is cool. The Andrade office boys jump BCC during Moxley’s entrance. They end up isolating Yuta and Yuta hits an awesome german on Butcher during his comeback. Moxley gets the hot tag and Jesus Christ man.. the dude just rules. He kicks Blade’s ass all around ringside and flips a table over. It’s not long before we are in the classic BCC finishing sequence with them locking every member in for the elbows followed by submissions for the win. 

Match rating - ***

Backstage, Jurassic Express accepts Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs’ tag title challenge. BUT Jungle Boy wants Starks for the FTW Title next week first. 

AEW: Dynamite Review - April 6th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

April 6th, 2022

Boston, MA

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Pyro blows off and the crowd goes nuts. We are live, motherfuckers. 

1) Adam Cole vs. Christian Cage

First time ever meeting here. Christian seems to keep Cole from having too much of a case of NXT brain as his bad habits don’t take the forefront like the Lethal match did the other week. It felt like a 2013 Christian TV match which is not at all a bad thing. If anything, it was nostalgic. But even better because this crowd was hot as fuck. So, yeah. They work a good pace then hit some big nearfalls near the end that the crowd loses their shit for completely. In the end, Cole wins and I’ll let Tony tell the rest..

Match rating - ***

“The termites are out.” -Tony Schiavone 

After the match, ReDragon runs down to attack Christian. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus hit the ring to a huge pop to make the save. Hangman Page ends up coming out once everyone clears out to try and get his hands on Cole AND IT FUCKING RULES. He smushes Cole in the face and they go nose to nose. Page says if Cole wants a title match, he will get it on a live Rampage next week in Texas in a.. TEXAS DEATHMATCH. FUCKKK. Hanger just loves to bleed, man. I swear. This segment felt huge though. Hangman really continues to dig his teeth into his run as THE guy and he’s killing it. 

2) Samoa Joe vs. Max Caster (w/ Anthony Bowens)

AEW: Dynamite Review - March 23rd, 2022

AEW Dynamite

March 23rd, 2022

Austin, Texas 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

1) CM Punk vs. Dax Harwood 

These two having this match to open the show is so refreshing. Everyone jokes about it being a Bret Hart tribute match, but that just makes me love it even more. This is Punk’s first match and appearance since the classic dog collar match at Revolution a few weeks ago. I’m a massive fan of the Punk/FTR pairing so I was immediately glued to this and they made me love it even more once things got going. Just classic, traditional pro wrestling with no frills or flashy things. They throw some nice counters in down the stretch including an awesome GTS counter from Dax. This rocked. Punk wins after quite the back & forth. 

Match rating - ***3/4

Backstage, the Jericho Appreciation Society is here. Jericho stumbles through a promo about Silver & Reynolds. Garcia & 2.0 crush their lines. Hager stands there looking dumb. They point out that they ran off Santana, Ortiz, & Eddie Kingston as we haven’t seen them in recent weeks. Guess that means we might get a run-in tonight! 

2) Darby Allin, Sting, Jeff Hardy, & Matt Hardy vs. Private Party, The Butcher, & The Blade 

AEW: Dynamite Review - March 16th, 2022 (ST PATRICKS DAY SLAM 2022)

AEW Dynamite

St Patrick’s Day Slam

March 16th, 2022

San Antonio, TX

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

We are on the anniversary of one of the most historic women’s matches in the history of pro wrestling and the same two women meet on this night for round three in a Steel Cage!!

1) “Hangman” Adam Page, Jungle Boy, & Luchasaurus vs. Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, & Bobby Fish 

“And here comes THE champion.. THE man.” -Jim Ross on Hangman Page

AEW: Dynamite Review - March 9th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

March 9th, 2022

Fort Myers, Florida

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Chris Jericho begins the show with his thoughts on Eddie Kingston after his loss to him on Sunday at Revolution. Jericho looks young and sympathetic for once tonight.. I don’t know what he did differently. But yeah, he says he wants Eddie to come out so he can shake his hand because he respects the hell out of him for giving him one of the best matches of entire his career. Eddie comes out and says before they say anything, he wants it to be clear that he didn’t go into the match Sunday with anyone in mind, but the 4 people he met at Fan Fest the day before that said his players tribune interview saved their life. King said he didn’t want to shake Jericho’s hand on Sunday for him, he put his hand out for Jericho because he knows there’s something missing in there that caused him not to shake his hand. Jericho says he really just wants to thank and show respect to Eddie so they shake hands. 2.0 & Daniel Garcia run down and attack them both, but mainly Eddie. Santana & Ortiz run down for the save and JERICHO TURNS ON THEM AND BEAT THEM WITH A BAT. Some stuff shots in there too. This kinda fucking rules. Jake Hager is out next, he teases dissension with Jericho only to plow over Santana & Ortiz and maintain his alignment with Jericho. Hager power bombs Kingston off the apron through a table and it is NASTY. Hager, Jericho, 2.0 & Garcia do the Inner Circle middle finger pose. This angle fucking ruled and of course Jericho gives this new group a corny ass name.. “the Jericho appreciation society” … ima just pretend that part didn’t happen because otherwise this was awesome. Just call it Inner Circle 2.0 or something, dammit. 

A video package airs on CM Punk’s victory over MJF at Revolution. Punk says if people thought they wanted the old Punk back, they should think again. 

1) “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Dante Martin - AEW World Championship Match 

AEW: Dynamite Review - February 9th, 2021

AEW Dynamite 

February 9th, 2022

Atlantic City, New Jersey 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

The show begins with Wardlow coming to the ring. He has cardboard cutouts of MJF and CM Punk. He hands Justin Roberts a note with a disgruntled look on his face. The note is a script for how MJF, FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard), and Shawn Spears are introduced to the ring. It’s pretty great stuff and the heat is immense. Everyone got their own entrance, but Wardlow. MJF is carried out on a chair / throne thing with people holding him up. He makes out with one of the women for like 30 seconds. He jumps in the ring and celebrates with The Pinnacle as Wardlow watches on. MJF says he’s the best wrestler in the world and after last week, he’s better than the best in the world. Lots of bragging and shitty comments like usual and it’s great. CM Punk walks onto the stage and says he learned his lesson and he’s not coming out here alone anymore. Darby Allin and Sting walk out to join him. All three of them have bats and Punk says MJF can give him a rematch or he can come beat it out of him right now. MJF makes excuses as to why he can’t and Punk tries to coax Wardlow into turning on the Pinnacle because he’s the only reason any of them win any matches. Dax Harwood speaks up and says Punk, Darby & Sting should be asking for a rematch against them from last December. OK LETS GO. Punk says they’re down for it, but MJF speaks up because of course he doesn’t wanna be involved so MJF pitches the wager —- Punk can get his rematch, but only if he & a partner of his choosing that isn’t Darby or Sting can defeat FTR TONIGHT. OH MY GOD. AEW doesn’t run these type of angles often and with the rumors swirling about tonight, I AM SO FUCKING STOKed to see who Punk picks. I hope it’s Samoa Joe. AHHHHH !!!

Backstage, Andrade El Idolo runs into Darby Allin & Sting. Andrade says he’s happy to have finally found Darby’s boss. Darby says his focus isn’t on him, it’s on the TNT title. Andrade says that’s funny because he wants to be TNT Champion, too..

1) Wardlow (w/ Shawn Spears) vs. The Blade

AEW: Dynamite Review - February 2nd, 2022

AEW Dynamite

February 2nd, 2022

Chicago, IL - Wintrust Arena

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

1) Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta

Yuta is replacing Brian Kendrick. Kendrick was supposed to make his AEW debut tonight, just 24 hours after receiving his requested WWE release. Then, everyone discovered that he’s a Holocaust denying nut job so TK pulled him from this show and rightfully so. Fuck that shit. This is built off of Mox squashing Yuta last fall. Here, Yuta charges Mox with a drop kick at the bell and misses, but avoids a lot of offense from Mox early. Yuta gets a good bit in here and looks awesome before Moxley puts him away with some elbows (a message to Bryan Danielson) followed by the paradigm shift DDT.

Match rating - **1/2

After the match, Bryan Danielson shows up. We all thought Danielson wanted to fight Moxley, BUUUUT Danielson says he actually wants to team with Mox. Bryan says there’s no reason a millennial cowboy should be world champion. No reason a dinosaur should be tag team champion. And no reason a vlogger should be TNT Champion. Danielson says they could run this place together and maybe even bring up a group of guys like Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and Lee Moriarty and train them to be the future of pro wrestling. Bryan offers Mox a handshake, but Mox is torn and just stand there. Bryan says he will give him time to think about it then leaves. Wild Thing plays as Mox stands there. I’m not particularly interested in a Mox/Danielson team actually being a thing, but I like the spin they are putting on this program and I hope 

AEW: Dynamite Review - January 12th, 2022

AEW Dynamite

January 12th, 2022

Raleigh, North Carolina

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

The show opens with Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, & Bobby Fish making their way to the ring. Cole says 2021 was a good year for he and the boys, but 2022 will be even bigger. He reminds everyone that he is undefeated in AEW and that the boys are here. Cole says this is a new era in AEW. The Young Bucks come out and remind O’Reilly & Fish that this is their company and they’re the longest reigning tag team champions in company history and their 2022 resolution? To get the belts back. O’Reilly says he & Fish have the same resolution. Cole breaks this up before it gets too intense and says he’s all for some friendly competition and that’s what makes them the best “stable” in AEW unlike a group like the Best Friends who—- CUE BEST FRIENDS. LETS GO BABY. CHUCKIE ORANGE GREG AND YUTA!!!! Cole asks Orange what is one thing he has to say that means anything and ORANGE SPEARS DOWN COLE AND A BRAWL BREAKS OUT YES!! Yes!!! This rules. The SuperKliq/UE crew lays everyone out. Kris Statlander shows up and goes face to face with Cole AND OUT COMES BRITT BAKER!!! BRITT CURBSTOMPS KRIS AND KISSES HER REAL LIFE BOYFRIEND ADAM COLE. Beautiful, just beautiful. Been waiting on Cole & Britt to finally be together on screen. At points, I wondered if it would even happen, well, it has and it’s just as perfect as I anticipated. This Best Friends/Superkliq feud seems to have regained a fire it didn’t have coming off that terrible trios match to close out the last Dynamite of 2021. 

1) CM Punk vs. Wardlow (w/ MJF)

AEW: Dynamite Review - January 5th, 2022

AEW Dynamite

January 5th, 2022

Newark, New Jersey

AEW’s TBS DEBUT ~~~~

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

1) “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW World Title Match 

This was just absolutely incredible. After the 60 minute draw they had on 12/15, they really had a lot to live up to and somehow they did it. Not that I ever doubted them. I knew this would rock. I did not know it would be this brutal nor did I think Danielson AND Page would be gushing. But boy, they were and it was fucking nuts. They really worked this perfectly. Early on, Danielson did all the stuff he did in the first match. The running and jumping jacks. Page doesn’t hesitate, he goes hard after Danielson and has an awesome flurry. My favorite part about the opening tid bits is that Page does the jumping jacks and shit later on once he busts Danielson open. A lot of awesome callbacks like that hidden in here. Too many to name, honestly. This match really was the perfect counterpart to their first encounter and on top of that, they wrestled this match with a brutality & stiffness that I don’t think will be matched anytime soon. A truly extreme and stellar performance from both guys. Danielson goes after the arm early to try to eliminate the buckshot. Page fights through and they end up on the outside and he’s able to send Danielson in the post and bust him open the same way Danielson did to him in their first match. Things really turn up to a new level here and words can’t even describe the intensity of the final 10 minutes. When all is said and done, Hangman finally is able to hit the Buckshot lariat and retain his World Championship after another classic match with Danielson. Wow. That was the only word I could muster when this was over. Good luck to whoever tries to top this and have a better match in the next 11 and a half months. 

Match rating - ***** (updated from 4.75 to 5 stars on re-watch 1/29/22) YEAH MAN

Pre-tape from The Acclaimed. They go off about Darby Allin.& Sting and say they have a music video for them next week. Oh mannnn. 

2) MJF vs. “Captain” Shawn Dean