AEW Dynamite:1/12/2022

It’s Wednesday once more, and you know what that means! Yes it’s for another episode of AEW’s decorated Wednesday show. A lot of good matches were announced prior to the show and a few got sprinkled in during the show’s run. Sit back and relax as we kick off the show in a pretty jam packed way!

Segment 1: Shocked the system.

And what better way to start off the show than with the formerly named Undisputed Era with Adam Cole, Kyle O’Riley and Bobby Fish. It was story time with Cole yet again and while Adam was talking about how dominant this trio has been in the past, fellow Elite members Matt and Nick Jackson made their way to the ring. Lately it had seemed that the Young Bucks are not only jealous of O’Riley and Fish but also worried that Adam Cole would leave the Elite entirely and resume what the Undisputed Era were doing during their NXT days. However one thing really stood out: both Bucks AND O’Riley and Fish want the AEW tag team titles, and not one of those four individuals are afraid to take each other out in order to be the number one contenders. A match between the Young Bucks and reDRagon would without a doubt be amazing to see, however the Best Friends came out and tried ambushing the Elite, however the numbers game was too much and not only did Kris Statlander try to help out her group of friends, but this was the first AEW televised segment that we’ve seen Adam Cole and real life partner Dr Britt Baker being in the same ring at the same time, taking out Statlander in the process. I enjoy the slow dissension between the Elite and what ever new name the Undisputed Era will go by, and it’s sad that Kenny Omega is taking time off from wrestling. We could’ve truly gotten the dream feud of the Elite vs the Undisputed Era with all 6 men. Here’s hoping Kenny does recover though! We miss you, Cleaner.

Match 1: CM Punk vs Wardlow (Rating 2.5/5)

I really was looking forward to this match, I really was. And while the match itself wasn’t bad because it was a typical Wardlow match, the way it finished was just ridiculous in a negative way. Before we get there though, both Punk and Wardlow seemed evenly match. Of course with Wardlow being the taller and stronger one between the two, Punk had to make sure to use his speed to get the big man off his feet. And he did several times! Punk escaped multiple powerbomb attempts but all Wardlow needed was just one to immediately stop Punk’s momentum. After hitting four powerbombs on Punk, Wardlow went for the pin. However, MJF told Wardlow to not pin him yet and hit more powerbombs. I get what they were trying to do; have Punk be hurt in to his eventual match with Friedman by laying him out with multiple powerbombs, but Punk wasn’t even moving at this point. He was limp, and four later turned to seven in the ring, and seven to eight when Wardlow powerbombed CM Punk through a table. Here I thought it’d be Punk’s first loss via count out, however somehow Punk made it back in the ring to break the ten count; and after distracting Wardlow once more with instructions, Punk rolled up the big man and pinned him 1, 2, 3 and won the match. It was a really poor decision, and I get it; you want CM Punk’s first loss to be MJF, but doing so it made Wardlow look poorly in the process. Sure the blowoff will be Punk loses to MJF and Wardlow eventually breaks from the Pinnacle and no longer is MJF’s bodyguard (as they teased it here tonight), but you have someone as dominant as Wardlow just lose to a sudden rollup like that? I don’t think so.

Match 2: Dante Martin vs Powerhouse Hobbs (Rating: 2.75/5)

Another pretty okay match between once again, a big man against a little man. Nothing too crazy really happened except for of course Team Taz trying to use heel tactics to help Hobbs win the match, however newly signed AEW wrestler Jay Lethal actually made an appearance and helped even out the odds and gave Martin the opening to pin Powerhouse Hobbs for the win. Lethal hasn’t been on either Dynamite or Rampage (which are considered to be the big shows with Dark and Elevation being their secondaries) since December during the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal after being eliminated surprisingly very early on by Matt Hardy and the rest of the HFO. I’m a fan of Lethal and I’ve been wanting him to appear on the main shows again, and I’m glad that he’s back on Dynamite. Hopefully this means that something is in store for Jay, whether it involves a championship or an important feud.

Segment 2: EVERYBODY DIES!

Now it’s time for Hangman Adam Page to have his next big feud for the AEW World Heavyweight championship. After slaying the American Dragon Bryan Danielson last week in one of the best Dynamite matches of all time and giving Danielson his props, Dan Lambert of American’s Top Team came out and interrupted the cowboy. After what seemed to be a sort of obvious indication of Ethan Page or Scorpio Sky being the next contenders for the world championship, out came the RETURNING Murderhawk himself, Lance Archer attacking Hangman Page and laying him out on his back; making the statement of not only is Archer back, but he’s next in line for the AEW championship. This is going to be absolutely amazing to see, welcome back Murderhawk!

Match 3: Serena Deeb vs Hikaru Shida. (Rating:2/5)

This wasn’t even a match to being with, it was more like a real savage beatdown. Shida was out making her way to the ring first and during her entrance, Serena Deeb ambushed her and really beat the living lights out of Shida. This technically was their fourth encounter in AEW and while the first three matches were really well-done and great, this one just felt lackluster. The match did officially start when both women in the ring but it was made clear that Shida wasn’t able to compete, thus giving Deeb the victory. I’m hoping after this both women go after either Jade Cargill’s TBS Championship or Britt Baker’s women’s championship.

Segment 3: The House of Black expands.

After a pretty fun match between Pentagon Jr and North Carolina native Matt Hardy, Malakai Black appeared in the ring via his teleportation to confront Penta, but before Malakai could get close to the Lucha Brother the Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr and Griff Garrison) came out to help defend Pentagon and all three men did in fact give Malakai a beatdown, however Malakai wasn’t going down so easily. On his hands and knees, Malakai smiled his sinister smile when the lights once again went out. Here I thought Malakai would’ve made a quick getaway, however I was way wrong. To help even the odds, Brody King has FINALLY made his AEW debut and decimated Penta and the Varsity Blondes. The House of Black has FINALLY received its new member as the two men have once again reunited, however there seems to also be a third man. But who could it possibly be? There’s already theories floating around to who it could be but for now, it’s Black and King and they’re ready to deliver destruction together.

Main Event: Interim TNT Championship; Sammy Guevara (c) vs Daniel Garcia. (Rating: 4/5)

Without a doubt this was the match of the night. Not only did Garcia give a really good performance, but Sammy has proven yet again that weekly the guy can put on some of the best wrestling matches throughout that week. With Cody Rhodes already being cleared to appear on next week’s episode of Dynamite, it was time to see who would’ve been the one to face Rhodes in the title unification match. The Spanish God after a real hard hitting match hit the GTH on Garcia to retain the interim championship. After the match, Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston finally got physical against once another (albeit with just shoving, but still really cool) to close off the show. After weeks of anticipation, finally we’re drawing closer to this eventual match between two of the best that All Elite Wrestling has to offer, and HOPEFULLY its end result is Kingston standing over an unconscious Jericho. After losing to Danielson and Punk, Eddie should deserve this win against a legend with the caliber of Chris Jericho.

Final rating: 3/5