AEW Dynamite tonight comes to us from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.  After last week drawing 894,000 & 0.31 in the 18-49 demo.

*****

The rest of the JAS already in the ring, Matt Menard took the mic to introduce Jericho.  The announcers tried to make out that he did this unenthusiastically but it doesn’t make sense why he’d even do it all.  The crowd were not exactly wholeheartedly bopping along to his entrance.  A small section were.  Basically, the song’s played out.

Jericho started speaking, Daniel Garcia asked Jericho to stop talking and listen.  Some of the crowd clapped.  Garcia reminded us how Jericho had cheated to beat him last week.  Despite everything Garcia had done for the Ocho.  And because Jericho wasn’t choosing him – ‘I can’t do this anymore’.  He did his stupid dance then left.

Hager was next.  He meandered confusingly then left too.

Jericho tried to talk the others round.  Saying their careers were better since joining him, backhandedly telling the girls how proud he was of them.  Tay said it seems Jericho can’t make a decision so she will.  She’s going to leave to have her baby then come back next year and be a champion.  She was cheered.

Anna was next.  Jericho might’ve helped them a bit but he helped himself most of all.  Tonight she’s being selfish, it’s about winning the women’s title, not helping him.  The ladies left together.

Angelo Parker referred to a catchphrase I didn’t even know he had.  And said he loved being a sports entertainer and he’s given Jericho everything he has but Jericho’s given him nothing.  He kept saying he didn’t want to leave the group but then did.

Crowd quiet now since it’s repetitive and they don’t care about any of the people in the JAS save maybe Sammy and Garcia.

Menard bought a Jericho tee with his first paycheck.  And Jericho helped get him a job when his wife was pregnant and he didn’t have one.  The last 18 months have been a ‘dream’ for him.  But he now understands why guys like Eddie Kingston and Kevin Steen hate his guts.  He left too.

Crowd making a little noise now since Sammy was left.  He snatched the mic, he’s had Jericho’s back since the very beginning.  Been doing things Jericho needed him to rather than things Sammy wanted to.  Since he’s loyal.  So he’s not going to walk out on Jericho.  If Jericho gets his stuff together, ‘maybe I’ll be here’.  He placed a hand on Jericho’s shoulder then left through the crowd to cheers and chants.

Schiavone called Sammy a ‘stand up guy’.

Garcia & Sammy were pretty good here.  The rest of it was weird.  Certainly the other three guys talked about being happy/the JAS being good for them then left anyway.  It achieved the former two guys being cheered and they bookended the segment as they should since they have the most potential.  And now of course Callis can swoop in.

And did after the break.  Renee talking to Jericho as Callis rushed up to say he hoped he hadn’t played any role in the dissolution of the JAS.  Jericho said he had an answer for Callis that they’d announce next week.

Callis said he’d take care of everything.

*****

Recap of FTR calling out the Bucks on Collision.

Young Bucks vs the Hardys

Backstory: To give the Bucks a win over the previous gen’s ‘best team’ ahead of them accepting FTR’s challenge for the best team of this gen

Crowd seemed to be behind the Bucks, the Hardys too.  The latter came out with Isiah Kassidy & Ethan Page.  They recapped the Hardys helping the Elite against Jarrett and etc last week.  Uh oh.

Excalibur said 2023 is the longest run the Bucks have ever had without a tag team match.  Matt Jackson and Jeff to start, each working the arm, Jackson spinning free into an armdrag but taking an atomic drop, snapmare and neckbreaker.

Matt Hardy in, double team combo then suplexing of Nick onto Matt (Jackson) before dumping Nick outside.  The Hardys then hit a double team suplex/slam for two.  Before Hardy rammed Jackson’s head repeatedly into the buckle.  Then hit a powerbomb for another two.

Jeff back in, legdrop into a pin, Nick broke it up and was again sent outside.  Matt Hardy back in, Poetry in Motion interrupted by a Nick enziguri from the apron, allowing the tag, Nick running through the Hardys with his usual comeback: punt from the apron, out-to-in facebuster, moonsault, crowd loud for the first time all match.

Risky Business left both Hardys outside for Nick to dive onto as Matt bridged the ropes.  Nick did the Elite chant into the camera as the break beckoned.  Slow so far prior to that Nick hot tag.

Back to Matt and Matt slugging it out, simultaneous lariats until Jackson was caught into a Side Effect.  Both bagged tags, Jeff hitting a chop and running elbow, inverted atomic, yambag legdrop and dropkick, Matt Jackson broke it up at two.

Jeff got the boots up against both Bucks, Whisper in the Wind, two on Nick.  Nick avoided an attack, Matt smacked Matt Hardy via superkick, the Bucks hit a superkick party then a 3D for two.

Meltzer Driver ready, Jeff cut it out, to the top, Swanton to Nick, Matt broke the pin at the last second.  Matt Jackson left outside, Nick in the ring vs both Hardys, Twist of Fate from each, Matt Jackson back in with superkicks, fighting Jeff off, superkicking the ankle to prevent another Whisper, BTE Trigger on Matt, win for the Bucks.

Was dreading Jarrett and co deciding this.  The Bucks need to be winning clean after a long hiatus.  In fact, it’d be nice to see them have a nice run beating good teams ahead of All In.  Because that’s what FTR have been doing. Yes, hardcore fans know it’s a quality match.  But it should feel like a clash of the titans even for fans who care about entertainment r/t star ratings.

Both teams shook hands and hugged after the match.  Before Matt Jackson asked for a mic.  (Jeff’s either a great seller or was in serious pain after this.)  Nick spoke first – ‘F..T..R’ all he got out before the Midnight Express homage kicked in.

The sides went face to face, talking a little smack.  Neither heels to the fans.  A light ‘All In’ chant started.  TiA following.  Nick then said ‘All In’ before dropping the mic.  FTR held their belts aloft then left.  The crowd chanted for the champs amid some duelling ones.

Khan then made the match official via the announcers.  This probably needed a little more heat but there’s still time.  The Bucks got a solid match out of the Hardys here.

Winner: Young Bucks

The women’s title will be defended at All In in a four way.  There’s a tournament to sort out who else will be in that.  Shida vs Anna Jay; Skye Blue vs Saraya; Bunny vs Britt Baker; Toni Storm has a bye.  Think we can safely guess who’ll win those but at least they’re somewhat building the match.

*****

Recap of last week’s Cole/MJF segment with the contract signing.  They then went to the pair on another night out to celebrate the signing.  MJF assumed they’d be skinny dipping ‘with rats’ since he was told to wear shorts.  Cole had taken them to a trampoline park.  Max wasn’t happy.  He sulked while Cole acted like a ten-year-old.  Until being told there was dodgeball.

Cole asked Max to watch how high he could jump.

MJF then walloped a bunch of tiny kids at dodgeball, telling them they were adopted or he’d slept with their mom etc.  Cole told him off for bullying the small children.  A little girl called them nerds for being there.  Cole told her she shouldn’t say things like that, she flipped him off, Cole said ‘one more’ to Max as he prepared a final dodgeball.

This followed the usual pattern.  It was very funny in places, laughed out loud at the girl flipping them off.  But did not remotely make me want to see them wrestle.  Especially for the world championship.  Cole came off like a total geek again which’d be fine if he wasn’t supposed to be the #1 contender.

*****

Recap of last week’s triple threat between Mox, Trent Beretta & Penta.  And of the BCC beating the Best Friends on Friday.

Cut to the BCC backstage.

Mox said ‘eagles don’t hunt flies’ as a warning to the Best Friends.  As relates to tonight’s match with the Lucha Bros they don’t hope they’ll win, they expect to,.  Claudio said he’d warned Pac he shouldn’t mess with him and now he’s injured (that’s legitimate).  Yuta pointedly mentioned Pac wouldn’t be at Wembley so that’s either nice honesty so fans aren’t disappointed or the Geordie will make some of surprise appearance even if he can’t do anything physical.

Mox said the BCC ‘doesn’t fear death, death fears us’.

Jack Perry vs Rob Van Dam (FTW Title & Rules)

Backstory: Perry’s been slamming ex-ECW guys after taking Taz’ old title from his son.

Perry came out dressed in pants like Jerry Lynn’s old gear and displayed the FTW title to Taz.  Still hate that theme.  RVD came out to Pantera again.  Crowd stood as Justin announced the match.

Perry attacked RVD while the announcements were being made.  To boos.  Van Dam swung and missed until a legscissors into a pin bought two.  Crowd chanting RVD as they talked smack and Perry offered a handshake.  Rob slapped him then smacked him with a kick to the head.  Shoulders to the gut in the corner, leg lariat, he was readying something else when Perry headed outside.

Tried to sneak back in and was caught so ran back out.  Poking the eye as Rob pursued him, RVD blocking a suplex then depositing Perry across the barricade.  To the apron, the thumbs, then a spinning legdrop that just crushed Perry.

Break.  Decent start, crowd into it, Perry playing the cowardly heel well.  Van Dam’s still pretty damn athletic.  It’s a minimum of ten years since I’ve seen him.

It’s also been a very easy first hour to watch.  Hasn’t felt quite as jammed-in as usual.

Perry missed Roling Thunder and a series of elbows, Van Dam sent him to the corner, monkey-flip out, chair ready, running dropkick into the chair into Perry.  Then placed it over Jack’s chest, his Rolling Thunder didn’t miss.  Count of two.

Wild swing from Perry, RVD missed a Van Daminator, Perry threw a chair and it hit the ref, Rob took Perry out, to the top, 5 Star ready, Perry crotched him, RVD fought back with shots to the gut and sent the youngster off the top through a ringside table.

The ref still down as Van Dam tried again with the frogsplash, hitting, covering despite the ref still being down, big visual pin, Aubrey ran down, Perry kicked out at two.  RVD argued with Aubrey and was low-blowed and pinned with the trunks hooked.

Entertaining match; lower than dogs*** finish.  Van Dam looked a complete moron here between trying to cover with the ref down in his sightline then arguing with Aubrey.  Taz is getting increasingly pissed each week, surely leading to a Tazmission at some point.

Winner: Jack Perry

Renee with the Lucha Bros and Alex Abrahantes.  Alex pointed to the Death Triangle symbol – they fight for brotherhood, the BCC fight to hurt people.  Fenix called them the Blackpool Coward Club, Penta said they’d show them why they’re the best team in the world, ‘zero miedo’.

Penta was in Joker gear again.

*****

Max’s music hit to a huge pop.  It was a mash-up, they both came out.  Slapping hands with the fans, doing the ‘Boom’ pose as the commentators debated Max’s actions.  Taz said he’d always been a good guy.

MJF played to the crowd, saying that any footage of him calling the Mid-West ‘mid’ is fake.  Challenging god to strike him down if he’s lying when he says the Mid-West is his favorite place in America.  They both braced then celebrated that they had not been struck down, Zeus style.

Cole told MJF he was going to beat him for the title.  Max said it sounded like Cole wanted a ‘promo battle’.  He called Cole so skinny and pale that if it were the 80s Hogan ‘would’ve snorted ya!’.  Crowd loved that.  He carried on being wacky – crowd loved that too – until Cole yelled at him to stop.  He hadn’t wanted a promo battle.

Cole said they’d make history at Wembley for the AEW title.  But ‘let’s go all in’ since he’s pretty sure the fans want to see them as a tag team again.  They did.  Cole’s had his eyes on the ROH tag titles (muted cheers) since Cole owes his entire career to ROH.  The wrestling we know and love is thanks to Ring of Honor (I thought it was ECW?).

Cole won a ton of gold there but never the tag titles.  He listed teams who’d held the belts: Kings of Wrestling, ReDragon, the Briscoes.  So during the zero hour before All In starts, he wants to challenge for the ROH tag titles.

Max was bewildered at Cole expecting him to wrestle twice.  Max said since Cole’s his best friend and he’s a sucker for a cheap pop, he asked the crowd if they wanted to see them become the new ROH champs.  Again, they did.

MJF then challenged Aussie Open, looking right into the camera.  ‘Because we’re better than you Bay Bay’.

Roderick Strong then began yelling ‘Adaaaam’ from the back.  He can’t believe Cole’s chosen Max over ‘an ROH legend… me’.  MJF said he’s sick of Strong’s jealousy.  He wants him to do what all generic white people do: go home and slam the door to his room and cry into his pillow listening to Taylor Swift and ‘shake it off you bland bitch’.  The crowd chanted ‘shake it off’ as Strong continued to whine, asking if Cole was really going to let MJF talk to him like that.  He then said the Kingdom had been right and Cole was never really his friend.  The Kingdom came out and hugged him, Strong left with them.

Cole shoved Max hard, saying he was his friend but was also friends with Strong.  Max wasn’t happy, Cole said he’d overreacted and apologized.  Max accepted and they hugged.  Cole said he had to go check on Strong.  Max kind of eyed him as he left but then yelled that it was cool and clapped.

That’s a very smart ploy to get the crowd in there early, as Excalibur acknowledged.

Another entertaining segment which made me excited for the tag but not for the world title match.

*****

Collision recap highlighting FTR, the Acclaimed, Joe/Punk & Punk/Starks.  Punk said there was a ‘bullseye’ on Starks now.

The announcers even discussed Starks’ attack on Steamboat.  As Mox’ music hit.

Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs Lucha Bros

Backstory: They’ve kinda sorta been feuding in amongst the BCC feuding with the Best Friends

Wow, the women are main-eventing again?

The Bros out following a break.  They came through the crowd, thrust kicks to the BCC, perfect stereo planchas, working over Claudio inside: cutter, diving stomp from the top, Fenix wiped out Mox with a tope as Penta hit Made in Japan for two.  Looked brutal.

Fenix tried to get the crowd going – they’ve largely been quite outside of BtYBB.  Series of thrust kicks, Claudio avoided uno, dos, tres, coming back with lariats as Mox made it to the apron.

In he came, stomping down Penta in the corner, KKL, catching Fenix off the top, double ddt to the Bros, Penta blocked an underhook, slingblade, Claudio hit him via lariat, avoided a Rey hook kick then Aubrey pulled Claudio away for no reason other than so she didn’t see Yuta hit Fenix with a weapon.

Rey kicked out so they did all that garbage for a near fall.  Big slam from Claudio to Rey, count of two.  Crowd almost silent as we hit another break.  Also the BCC are very clearly positioned as heels here but the crowd doesn’t see them that way since their booking’s been so wishy-washy.

Fenix being worked over in the BCC corner, Castagnoli smacked him with an uppercut then booted Penta off the apron, spike piledriver to Rey, two only.

Quick tags in and out from the heels as Claudio hauled Fenix onto his shoulders, Rey avoided a Domesday lariat from Mox that missed by miles, hit a stomp, Penta in, cazadora/ddt combo, backstabber to Claudio for two.  Fenix back in, missing a frogsplash after a long pause, Penta was taken out by Claudio, Rey and Claudio exchanged near falls until Mox hit a cutter on Penta and Rey popped up to drill him via superkick.

All four down.  Crowd waking briefly.  TiA chant despite sitting on their hands for most of the match.

Rey and Claudio exchanged shots from their knees, fighting to their feet, the strikes quickening until Claudio stomped the foot only for Rey to hit the ropes and rebound via hook kick.

Tag to Penta who took a long time shaping a springboard only to land into an uppercut.  He and Mox then slugged it out with chops, neither budging, for a good solid minute, the chops getting stiffer as they transitioned to overhands until Penta hit a kick to the leg but sprang off the ropes, escaping a Death Rider and hooking Mox for a stuffed piledriver for two (again it was delayed and out-of-sync).

Yuta then just blatantly grabbed the boot directly in front of Aubrey, a bunch of nonsense happened, Moxley rolled Penta up for two, grabbing the trunks.  Amid all the nonsense, theyd pulled Penta’s mask off, even the announcers only noticed this afterwards cause so much other dumb stuff was going on.

A distraction roll-up finish grabbing the tights.  Been a while since we’ve seen one of those.  The BCC then beat down the Bros as they posed with Penta’s mask.  A heel trio stealing the mask of a Luchador, been a while since we’ve seen that too.

Mox yelled ‘zero respect’ into the camera.  That’s what AEW have for their refs yep.  This was disjointed even before that rotten finish.  Why don’t AEW let names pin names?

Winner: BCC

Kenny Omega backstage, asked by Marvez about the Bucks’ match with FTR.  So what about him?  Omega put over all four guys.  He’s going to sit down with JR next week to talk about Callis, Takeshita and his plans for All In.

(Maybe AEW could’ve even had Takeshita appear on tv since he’s being built for a match with one of their top stars?  But perhaps the bookers were distracted booking distraction finishes.)

Nice idea having Omega do a sitdown anyway.  As long as it isn’t one of the ones where JR asks one question and that’s it.  Kenny doesn’t speak nearly enough for a guy on his level.  If it’s done well, JR will add a level of realism to a feud that needs reigniting.

*****

Swerve Strickland out for a promo, Prince Nana did his usual corny dancing.  Only Fox walked with Swerve, the rest of his clique waited on the ramp.  Nana took the mic to pour cheap heat onto the crowd.  Strickland said last week was to make a point, to put the ‘fear of God’ into Nick Wayne.  Mogul Embassy are ‘above the law’.  He asked whose house it was, the crowd chanted even though he’s a heel.

Fox then demanded Darby Allin come out.  He did, without music.  Demanding Fox tell people the whole story.  He tried to help Fox into AEW but Fox never answered his phone.  They both know he had his demons.  But praised him for making it to AEW all by himself.

Then revealed the actual story of the feud: Fox is mad that Darby helped Nick Wayne into AEW but not him.

Allin said he’ll always respect Fox for helping him.  But it looks like he has some new friends, though Darby has friends too… lights out, darkness reigning for a long time until coming up to reveal Sting in the ring with his bat.  The heels fled excepting Swerve who took a bat to the gut.  Then begged for mercy with it pointed at his throat.

The vet then pointed the bat toward the All In banner before shoving Strickland out to his waiting crew.

Never thought I’d see Darby be the equal of Swerve on the mic but that’s how far he’s come.  Decent enough segment.  Crowd enjoyed Sting’s return.

Anna Jay vs Hikaru Shida (Women’s Title)

Backstory: Jay beat Skye Blue on Rampage to get a title shot

Jay was accompanied by 2.0.  Shida’s theme is badass.  Crowd briefly chanting for both as Shida flung the youngster to the corner.  A slap exchange begat each avoiding lariats until Jay rolled up Shida for two.  The champ bailed to the corner, reset.

Lockup, whip, leaping knee from Shida, lariat missing in the corner but a second knee connecting.  Ten punches as Menard yelled continually.  Jay slipped under to send Shida to the apron and knock her off with a weak spinning kick.

Back inside, cover, two.  Ads.  They’re certainly trying to set a pace and an aggression, it’s just not all that crisp.

Back to a wild flurry from Shida, swwinging and swinging and swinging, neckbreaker, cover, two only.  Jay to the apron, the champ looking to suplex her back in, Jay fought her off and hit a nice looking spin kick to the face, the two battling on the apron until a Shida enziguri knocked her to the floor.

Shida grabbed a chair and set it up to propel herself at Jay, 2.0 ran in the way (again right in front of the ref), Jay got two after hitting a ddt on the outside.  Shida fought off the Queenslayer, Jay applied it again, dragging her back center, Shida broke out and grabbed the ropes.

Clearly something went wrong there since they went back to the Queenslayer and Shida carried Jay up the ropes on her back, dropping backwards from the middle, Falcon Arrow, Jay kicked out.  Shida hit the Katana, Angelo Parker weirdly kind of interfered but didn’t during that pin.  Strange moment to end a show chock full of horrible finishes.

We’ll look at the positive and say Jay at least beat somebody to get a shot and they told us about it on Collision.

Winner: Hikaru Shida

 ________________________________________________________________

Next Collision:

• CMFTR vs House of Black (Trios Titles)
• Mercedez Martinez & Diamante vs Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale
• Acclaimed vs TBA

Next Dynamite:

• MJF & Cole talk about All In main event
• Omega interview w JR
• Bunny vs Britt Baker
• Darby Allin & Nick Wayne vs Gates of Agony
• More announced on Rampage

Added to All In:

• FTR vs Young Bucks (Tag Titles)
• Hikaru Shida vs Toni Storm vs TBA (Britt Baker) vs TBA (Saraya) (Women’s Title)
• Sting & Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland & AR Fox (Coffin Match – weird that it was just announced that way r/t as a challenge from Darby)

Thumbs Up/Down

• Cole & MJF were entertaining again and them wrestling a tag is wise, it’s what people want
• RVD vs Perry was good until the finish
• They kept the Jericho/Callis intrigue going while spotlighting the right JAS members (and the JAS is finally done!)

 *****

• Nothing felt like a main event, in fact nothing had any build outside of the FTW title match
• Some horribly booked endings including the same one in back-to-back matches
• No Takeshita again when he needs building up
• BCC vs Lucha Bros

Appreciate you reading.  Have a good week.