AEW Dynamite: 1/26/2022

It’s Wednesday night, and you know what that means! It’s time for a Beach Break and wow did this show feel really packed. The TNT Unification Title match, a Lights Out match, yet another confrontation between CM Punk and MJF: this show really delivered. Without further ado, let’s dive into this action packed AEW Dynamite!

Match 1:TNT Unification Ladder match; Cody Rhodes vs Sammy Guevara. (Rating: 4.5/5)

And what a way to start off the show with the title unification match between Rhodes and Guevara; and wow did this match not disappoint. So many spots from a Cross Rhodes by Cody off a ladder to a Cutter by Sammy off another ladder; to Sammy hitting a Swanton on Rhodes with Cody laying on a ladder outside of the ring, this really blew my expectations! Both men have always had really amazing chemistry with one another and every other match prior to this one have always been phenomenal. The match was actually won by Sammy Guevara after hitting one final Go To Hell and climbed up the ladder to retrieve both TNT championships. The punishment both men have received was ridiculous, more-so on Sammy due to him hitting that Swanton off the ladder onto the ladder Cody was laying on because he just bounced off it and the landing just looked brutal. Kudos to him and Cody for putting on an already Match of the Year candidate.

Match 2: Six Man Tag; The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Santana and Ortiz) vs Daniel Garcia and 2Point 0. (Rating: 2.75/5)

The tensions between PnP and Jericho have escalated to a high point tonight. Last week during a backstage segment, Jericho and the duo were talking about what they were going to do to Garcia and 2Point 0 tonight and how Chris didn’t care that they took out Eddie Kingston; however Santana and Ortiz quickly got on the defensive and supported Kingston and questioned Jericho’s devotion to not only PnP but also the Inner Circle. Nothing too crazy happened in this match except for the Inner Circle fighting with one another, verbally of course. The match was won by the babyface team after Jericho hit a Judas Effect on Garcia and Santana scoring the pinfall win for his team. I enjoyed it for what it was, but honestly it’d be best that the Inner Circle broke up. It would give Santana and Ortiz more of a focus on capturing the tag team titles, Sammy would be carrying the TNT titles proudly and putting on phenomenal matches; meanwhile Jericho could just be used to put younger talent and Hager being in Team Taz wouldn’t be so bad.

CM Punk Segment: The Match is official!

Out comes CM Punk to call out once again Maxwell Jacob Friedman, MJF. He’s tired of waiting for MJF, and even we, the fans are very eager to see these two finally get in a ring and wrestle against one another. Finally, MJF caves in and agrees to having the match for next week’s Dynamite in Chicago. We’re getting the match after months of buildup and talking! However the moment becomes bittersweet as MJF’s buddies from the Pinnacle come out to attack CM Punk. Shawn Spear jumps Punk from behind Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, MJF and Wardlow all made their way down the ring to get their hands on Punk. After hitting Punk with a chair, Spears laid the chair on the ring canvas for Wardlow to powerbomb Punk on the chair. MJF gets the last laugh as he sits on top of Punk’s prone body, stating that he’s going to end this journey Punk started in August. This is really going to be amazing, and I’m really hopeful MJF’s the one to hand Punk his first ever loss.

Main Event: Lights Out Match; Orange Cassidy vs Adam Cole. (Rating: 4/5)

Yet another really good feud between two men that have incredible chemistry with one another, and regardless of the end result this was an incredible lights out match. With this being the fourth unique match in AEW’s history so far, this was honestly one of the best matches to happen with this given stipulation. I’d even go as far to say that this was the best match that Orange Cassidy has ever competed in as well; the violence, the endurance, the tenacity, the spots, the emotion and the performance given by both Cassidy and Cole made this match feel all the more special. The match was surprisingly won by Orange Cassidy after Cassidy trapped Cole with a bearhug of sorts and fell from the top of the stage to down below off the ramp with Cassidy scoring the pinfall for the winning, thus making this Adam Cole’s first “official” loss in AEW but due to Lights Out stipulations this won’t effect Cole’s AEW record.

Final rating: 4/5