AEW Dynamite: 1/19/2022

It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means! It’s yet another episode of AEW’s weekly show, Dynamite. Tonight’s episode certainly did not disappoint, a lot of fun matches and entertaining segments; feuds are continuing to build up and the hype is unreal.

Segment 1: Unscripted (Mox) Violence

After being absent from AEW television due to personal reasons, former world heavyweight champion Jon Moxley has made his long awaited return. The crowd was hot and showed their love for Mox; giving him a standing ovation, chanting his name and of course singing along to his “Wild Thing” song. Before getting a few words in, some moronic man in the crowd blatantly disrespected Jon Moxley and didn’t want to see him in the ring and of course in a typical Mox response, the fan was removed from the arena due to being disrespectful and rightfully so. The man had barely returned and bettered his personal life, health and wellbeing and didn’t deserve such hate or malice whatsoever. Moxley proceeds to cut a passionate babyface promo and the crowd was eating his words up and were firmly behind the returning Mox and it seems that Jon’s ready to continue his dominance back to the top. Such a feel good moment to start the show.

Match 1: Mixed Tag Team Match; Kris Statlander and Orange Cassidy vs Britt Baker and Adam Cole. (Rating:3.5/5)

Following such a powerful and emotional promo by a returning Jon Moxley, the action started off hot as AEW’s new power couple Britt Baker and Adam Cole took on Best Friends members Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander. Kris never ceases to amaze me, without a doubt she’s one of the best female workhorses of this company that has yet to become a women’s champion. Now Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy, these two were certainly the highlight of this match as we’ve already seen those two men compete against one another multiple times. The chemistry both have, alongside the chemistry of Baker and Statlander, made this much all the more fun with the amount of talent and chemistry there was in the ring! The match ended via pinfall for team Cole and Baker as Adam hit the Boom Running Knee to the back of Cassidy’s head after a table spot that went wrong for Baker. It was also announced later on that next week Cassidy and Cole would face against one another yet again but in a Light’s Out (basically a street-fight/no holds barred match but the more brutal) match which should be very entertaining.

Match 2: CM Punk vs Shawn Spears. (Rating: 1/5)

Similarly to Monday Night Raw’s match between Omos versus Reggie, this was anything but a match. Punk immediately hits the Go To Sleep finisher after countering a neck-breaker from Spears and won via pinfall after twelve or so seconds. This was honestly a bummer and a waste of a match for both men’s resumé. Sure, the post-match confrontation led to yet again another tease of Punk being physical with MJF and it was fun and had a lot of anticipation, however had there been an actual match between Spears and Punk I would’ve been more impressed with Punk getting another victory. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy how short the match was, because it indeed stunned me and I was in favor of how the finish went; but again it should’ve just been an actual match to showcase the skills that now only Punk has but also Shawn Spears.

Segment 2: “I built the forbidden door.”

On the topic of returns, the current TNT champion Cody Rhodes made his return after being away from tv a few weeks due to the pandemic. Of course this was meant to build up his upcoming unification match against the interim TNT champion Sammy Guevara, which is scheduled for next week’s show and it would be contested in a ladder match; however Rhodes felt the need to toy with the fans’ emotions by playing as a bad guy without fully embracing the heel persona. Cody’s well aware that the fans desperately want him to become this heel wrestler, myself included. However him not turning into a heel and still cutting these real passionate promos with the crowd being split (behind him or against him) is the smartest move that Cody can make right now. Of course he’s aware he’s going into the unification match with Sammy as the heel because nobody wants to see him win, but why shouldn’t he continue to tease with the turn by embracing the traits with a heel while at the same maintaining his babyface character? He isn’t a tweener by any means technically but it does allow Rhodes to use his psychology to continuously play with the emotions of the fans so they can be behind Cody by the end of the day.

Match 3: Tag Team Match; The House of Black vs Varsity Blondes. (Rating: 2.75/5)

The first time we see Brody King and Malakai Black teaming up with each other in a tag team match on All Elite Wrestling and this was short, sweet and straight to the point. As successful as the Varsity Blondes are in AEW with their impressive win/loss record, of course they weren’t even close to match the dominance that King and Black bring when teaming together. The match was won via pinfall after a Dante’s Inferno was hit on Brian Pillman Jr, however after the match a familiar face sent a recorded message to Malakai on the titantron, and it was none other than the Bastard known as PAC; which teases an eventful singles feud between him and Malakai and a MAJOR chance that he’s the third man that joins Brody and Malakai in the House of Black.

Match 4: Lance Archer vs Frankie Kazarian. (Rating: 2.75/5)

Not a bad match at the slightest, this was a really good showcase of how great the Murderhawk is; especially when he’s the one dominating his opponents. One complaint I’d say about this however is how it really didn’t benefit Kazarian at the slightest. Sure he hit offense and had Archer on the ropes on a few occasions but for the most part the match was completely one sided favoring Archer. After SCU split, I had thought that Kaz would’ve done something more than just being the Elite Hunter (which lasted for no more than a month) but instead he’s just lost in the fold while more stars are given more opportunities. Personally a shot at the TNT title with a little mini run would’ve been perfect for Kazarian because he can still go and deliver some great matches. Regardless, the match was won by Archer via pinfall and after the contest, AEW world champion Adam Page came out to confront the Murderhawk and both men got physical with Page getting the edge on Archer and sent him flying out of the ring.

Main Event: Tag Team Match; Darby Allin and Sting vs The Acclaimed. (Rating: 4/5)

The Acclaimed are here and they’re here to stay, so in the beginning of the match they made sure to send Darby Allin away! The poor rhyming aside, this match was a lot of fun. 80% of this match I’d say was a handicap match due to Caster and Bowens taking out Darby before the match could’ve even start, leaving the Icon Sting in a handicap match. Sting looked absolutely amazing though the ones that gave an epic performance were the young upstarts. Anthony Bowens and Max Caster have very few matches on both Dynamite and Rampage and without a doubt they deserve being on the main shows now besides being on just Dark or Elevation. They have the look, they have the charisma and they have both mic and athletic skills and should be worthy of being top contenders for the Jurassic Express and their tag team titles. The match was won by Allin and Sting after a Coffin Drop and Stinger Death Drop combination for the pinfall.

Final rating: 4/5