AEW Dynamite: 5/11/2022

It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means! The start of the Owen Hart tournament for both the men and women is underway but most important of all; it’s time for Dynamite! Long Island native MJF is ready to give Wardlow a match for Double or Nothing with a contract signing, DANHAUSEN made his long awaited debut, a Shawn Michaels guy and a Bret Hart guy fought for qualification in Owen’s tournament and a dream match that exceeded all sorts of expectations to close off the show!

Match 1: Owen Hart Tournament Quarter Finals; Adam Cole vs Dax Harwood. (Rating:3.5/5)

The show kicks off HOT with the Bret Hart guy (Dax Harwood) taking on the Shawn Michaels guy (Adam Cole BayBay) in a true classic for the history books. Harwood’s certainly proven himself to be a phenomenal singles competitor apart from being an awesome tag team wrestler with Cash Wheeler. Cole himself is no slouch by any stretch of the imagination and this match proved that both men are talented enough to wrestle an old school style of wrestling that is rarely seen any more in this modern day and age. The match was ultimately won by Cole after locking in a Sharpshooter on Dax, forcing the FTR member to submit. Sucks that Harwood got eliminated relatively early on but I’m glad he had his moment to shine! Can’t wait to see what more they do for him solo.

Match 2: CM Punk vs John Silver. (Rating: 3/5)

Punk’s in enemy territory once more, except this time he isn’t wrestling against MJF. Instead he put on a short but fun match against Dark Order’s “Johnny Hungee.” Punk really made Silver look amazing in that ring, taking bumps off of power moves as if Punk got shot out of a cannon. It seemed as if Silver was going to pick up this huge win in his hometown but with a GTS and a BUCKSHOT LARIAT, Punk was able to put away Hungee for the pinfall victory. Following the match, Hangman Page made his way to the ring and confront his opponent for Double or Nothing by getting in Punk’s face. Punk being the awesome performer that he is played the heel without officially being a villain, telling Page that his championship reign will be ending in 2 weeks’ time and demanded Hangman to shake the hand of Punk. And in true Cowboy Shiznit fashion, Page flipped Punk the bird to his face and left the ring. I cannot wait for this match! It’s going to be so amazing.

Match 3: DANHAUSEN vs Tony Nese. (Rating: 3.25/5)

The long awaited debuthausen for the man, the myth and the legend himself, Danhausen himself! And what a way to make your debut than by taking on Tony Nese. So, did Danhausen manage to win his debut match? No, actually he lost. A beatdown ensues with Mark Sterling and Nese jumping Danhausen two on one until Action Bronson’s “Chairman’s Intent” played. Yet another hometown boy HOOK made his way down the ramp and evened out the playing field, saving Danhausen in the process. Danhausen yet again reaches out his hand hoping to get a handshake from Hook and it did! HOOKHAUSEN IS OFFICIALLY BORN!!! Lousy match but with an awesome outcome, definitely worth it.

MJF/Wardlow contract signing.

The hometown hero has ARRIVED! Public enemy number one was the Wardog while Maxwell was cheered by his people. And it also seems that MJF will be facing at Double or Nothing, though similarly to a former TNT champion Wardlow has to endure some tests in order to get his match at DoN. First, 10 lashes to the back of Wardlow. Next, a steel cage match against Shawn Spears. If Wardlow wins, he gets his match and the big man agreed. After signing the contract, both MJF and Spears wanted to get the surprise jump on Wardlow and thats when the chains got loose and the big man basically laid everybody out! Security guards and Spears himself served as causalities, sending a message to Friedman that he’d be next.

Main Event: Owen Hart Quarter Final Match; Jeff Hardy vs Darby Allin. (Rating:5/5)

This was Jeff’s second singles match in AEW… Second. And this may be the best match he’d ever put on in All Elite Wrestling because WOW! This was made anything goes so you just knew to expect crazy spots and flying everywhere, and that’s exactly what happened! There was a moment in which there was a LOT of chairs outside of the ring and Allin ended up climbing a ladder inside the ring to dive off of it to the outside with a Swanton to Hardy and Darby basically hit his spine first on a few chairs which looked NASTY! Another spot near the end of the match had Allin prone on steel steps outside and Jeff was setting up a Swanton of his own, and he goes for it and eats the steps because Darby moved out of the way; also resulting in Hardy taking a nasty looking bump! Thankfully the match didn’t go on for too long and Jeff ended up winning after getting a sneaky pin after Allin had hit the Coffin Drop. A dream match that was so scary yet so perfect. Kudos to both men!

Final Rating:4/5