Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: AEW Saturday Night Dynamite Oct. 16th

It’s Saturday. You, um…know what that means? Okay, so normally that probably wouldn’t mean anything to wrestling fans, but in this case AEW had a special episode of Dynamite on offer from Miami, FL. Hopefully everyone remembered the change in schedule to accommodate the NHL season opener unlike a certain AEW star.

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After a pretty epic 2-hour edition of Rampage on Friday night (which I don’t review because I have a life and won’t spend my Friday nights watching wrestling, thank you very much) Dynamite had a lot to live up to, but with a pretty stacked card in its own right AEW’s flagship show promised to match or exceed the previous night’s offering. Bryan Danielson looked to follow up his epic clash against Minoru Suzuki with another intriguing matchup with a veteran of the squared circle in Bobby Fish, the Elite faced off against the Dark Order, and the bracket for the AEW Championship Eliminator Tournament was revealed. Did the resulting show live up to the hype of those moments?

Best Match of the Night

There were three main contenders for match of the night this week, with two having slightly wonky finishes that held them back from being the overall best. Malakai Black vs. Dante Martin was a great showcase for both men – Black the sadistic destroyer and Martin the gutsy, never-say-die babyface. The outcome of the match was, of course, predictable, but that did not prevent it from being an enjoyable back-and-forth contest in which Black’s technical work and brutal strikes contrasted with Martin’s agility, speed, and risk-taking. The finish was a little strange, with Black clutching his ribs for some reason even though we did not see what had caused him to be in pain, which caused him to release a single-leg crab hold and then take ages to go for the cover after hitting his spinning heel kick finisher. Maybe it was a legitimate injury or at least momentary discomfort, in which case hopefully Black is okay going forward, but it did strike me as odd anyway. The show of respect from Black to Martin after the match was much appreciated and helped ensure the lasting impression of this match is the one both performers were sent out there to cultivate – namely, that while Black is clearly the superior wrestler and further up in the AEW pecking order right now, Martin is not that far behind and has been winning respect with each step forward over the last few months. The other runner-up for best match this week was the main event between Bobby Fish and Daniel Bryan…er, Bryan Danielson. (Hey, if CM Punk can make that mistake on commentary, it’s good enough for me, right?) This was, as expected, a great showcase of two technically proficient ring generals, with Fish and Danielson trading strikes, submissions, and counters throughout. As great as it is to see Bobby Fish in significant singles matches after spending so long as a member of a faction in which he was rarely highlighted, here’s hoping that he can either go on an extended singles run on Dark/Elevation/Rampage or find a worthy tag partner soon, because it’s not ideal to go 1-2 in your first three matches in a company where wins and losses matter. Danielson continues to be in a holding pattern until Kenny Omega is finished with Adam Page at Full Gear, though his inclusion in the eliminator tourney will presumably keep him busy until then, and in the meantime it gives AEW the option to stick him in dream matches like the one against Minoru Suzuki that, it must be said, kind of overshadowed this match. Again, the finish wasn’t terrible, but it certainly felt rushed, as Danielson made Fish tap to a heel hook (which is a perfectly legitimate submission hold but not exactly one of the American Dragon’s established finishers) to end the match in time for AEW to reveal the tournament bracket. And I mean literally just to reveal it – there was very little time to run down the first round matches, and apart from Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes, there was basically nothing announced for next week. (I’ll talk a little more about the tournament a little later, but suffice to say how brief the reveal was and the somewhat odd finish to the main event convinced me they were short on time.)

With those great matches out of the way due to their slightly off finishes, match of the night honors fall to the trios match pitting Dark Order’s John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and Evil Uno against the Superkliq’s Adam Cole and the Young Bucks. Astute readers might have picked up on the fact that I quite enjoy the Dark Order and the Superkliq, and even less astute readers might have picked up on the fact that I outright admitted to liking the former last week, so it’s no surprise that I quite enjoyed this match, but my own personal preferences aside this was an objectively great TV match. Let’s run down the most entertaining moments of the match, shall we? (I’m the one writing this so we’re going to do that regardless of what you think, but I’d like to think you’re on board anyway.) After Jungle Boy referenced the…not quite perfect quadruple powerbomb on Luchasaurus from last week, the Young Bucks tried to hit their own version on John Silver, only for him to reverse it into a hurricanrana on the ring entrance. Dark Order hit a triple dropkick that, in context, had to be a sort of parody of the Super Elite’s tendency to go for triple team V-Triggers or superkicks. Don Callis narrowly avoided John Silver’s rampage outside the ring, leading to a superkick that halted Silver’s momentum. Evil Uno caught Adam Cole’s foot mid-kick, handed it to the very confused referee who happened to be standing right next to him, and then hit a cutter on Cole. Then, in a similar spot, he caught Matt Jackson’s foot mid-kick and pulled off his shoe…then his sock…then put the sock on his hand and applied the mandible claw in a tribute to the hardcore legend Mr. Socko…er, Mick Foley. Adam Cole put Evil Uno in a camel clutch while the Young Bucks ran the ropes to set up for their obnoxious double kiss on the newest member of the Elite, except this time Silver and Reynolds tripped them up and went for the kiss themselves. Cole’s face when he realized it wasn’t the Bucks was absolute gold. Evil Uno nearly had the match won after hitting Cole with Something Evil, only for the Bucks to break up the pin at the last moment. Alex Reynolds got on a role late, but he ultimately fell victim to the numbers game with the Bucks hitting him with a double superkick to set up the Panama Sunrise from Cole. After the Bucks superkicked Uno and Silver off the ring apron, they once again double-teamed Reynolds with a BTE-Trigger, and Cole finished him off with…are we still allowed to call it the Last Shot? Whatever, that’s what it is regardless of what they call it. As you can tell from that rundown, everyone in the match had at least one if not multiple opportunities to shine, and it never felt like the result was a foregone conclusion. Sure, the Elite winning was the more likely outcome, as the Dark Order has only recently come back together after a long string of mishaps, misunderstandings, and mistrust, but it would have felt like a huge step forward for the group if they had been able to pull off the win here, and there were a few moments when it genuinely felt like that might be possible. Ultimately, it feels like the creative team is saving a big, feel-good win until Adam Page can get them fired up and united around a common cause, and until then the Super Elite is going to be built up as the most unbeatable heel faction around, neither of which feel like bad decisions from where I sit. Especially if we’re going to continue to get entertaining, satisfying matches like this one on weekly TV.

Best Moment of the Night

Jungle Boy attacked after the Young Bucks and Adam Cole’s victory, causing the heels to once again abandon Brandon Cutler, whose cold spray was no match for the babyface’s steel chair. Jungle Jack locking in the Snare Trap while forcing Cutler to spray himself in the face was the best pure comedic moment of the night, and I will say it again: Brandon Cutler is, improbable as it may seem, my favorite member of the Elite. MJF had another great segment this week, insulting the Miami crowd as per usual while introducing himself since Miami Vice Justin Roberts didn’t do his job (since, y’know, there definitely wasn’t a match scheduled and therefore no need for ring introductions) then calling Darby Allin unprofessional for not showing up for and feigning shock at “hearing” of the backstage attack that took out his scheduled opponent last week. Having Wardlow force a referee into the ring to count out Allin, only for the count to be stopped by Sting, who took out the big man while MJF scampered off to leave his bodyguard hanging once again, was the perfect capper. This relatively short, efficient segment furthered MJF’s issues with Allin and Sting, continued to plant seeds for Wardlow to turn on his mentor, and built anticipation for the cocky heel to get his comeuppance. Miro also had a good little promo segment, as God’s Favorite Former Champion expressed his doubts and disbelief that he would be allowed to lose. His promise to make everyone experience pain until he is able to redeem himself struck the perfect tone for his character and should portend some fresh new matchups for the dominant Bulgarian, which must be regarded as a good thing.

The best moment of the night, however, has to go to the in-ring promo from “Hangman” Adam Page. It’s no secret that basically the entire past year has been devoted to Page’s redemption story, and the man himself laid it out in no uncertain terms here – he felt like a failure after promising to become the first AEW champ only to lose to Chris Jericho, and his confidence was further shot after Kenny Omega turned his back on him to become champion himself. His alliance with the Dark Order that led to him not only losing his own world title shot but also denying his friends a championship opportunity of their own left him questioning his own worth and whether anyone should believe in him, but the fans never gave up on him, and that’s what ultimately gave him the confidence in himself to come back and take one more shot at his former friend turned rival. Page’s ability to add nuance and meaning to the term “cowboy s#!t” while further deepening his connection with the audience was truly remarkable here, and in a year full of monster pops, the biggest one may well be yet to come when Page inevitably dethrones Omega at Full Gear, given the live crowd’s reaction to the Anxious Millennial Cowboy’s declaration that he now believes in himself again. AEW deserves tons of praise for pulling off this long-term story as well as it has, and segments like this make it easy to see why Adam Page is well deserving of a run with the company’s top title.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

I have three notes on Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta from before, during, and after the match respectively: “This is a match that is happening,” “Well, that was quick,” and “Orange Cassidy looks…concerned? Disappointed? Vengeful?” I’m not sure which was longer, the match or the time it took me to write those notes. That’s how short and pointless it was. The Inner Circle (all 5 of them!) calling out American Top Team made sense – Santana and Ortiz evened the odds after ATT got a tainted victory the night before, so it’s only natural they’d want a rematch with the numbers even – but this segment accomplished precisely nothing. Also, it’s getting increasingly difficult to overlook what a relic of the Attitude Era Chris Jericho is – his line about “which of you guys is on top” from a couple of weeks ago was questionable enough, but going after Paige VanZant this week just felt lazy and somewhat misogynistic, especially for someone who’s supposed to be the babyface in this scenario. It’s disappointing from someone like Le Champion who is capable of so much better – sure, Y2J had more than his fair share of line-toeing promos about Stephanie McMahon back in the day, but that was 20 years ago, and he’s had lots of good promos in the years since that didn’t rely on sexist tropes that were probably less acceptable than we’d like to admit even then. Dan Lambert promising to lay out his conditions for an ATT-Inner Circle rematch next week rendered this entire segment pointless, meaning we could have avoided this whole thing or just fast-forwarded whatever Lambert has planned to this week and skipped the childish insults entirely. I’m definitely more positive on this feud overall than I initially expected to be, since I’ve gotten more used to Lambert’s schtick and the pairing with Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky at least promises to get some actual wrestlers over instead of just spotlighting MMA fighters who are not about to sign with AEW full time, but segments like this do nothing to maintain my enthusiasm for whatever they have planned next.

Parting Shots

• The AAA Tag Team Championship match was not at all what I was expecting when Andrade promised to bring in a couple of his friends to challenge for the belts, but it ended up being an enjoyable enough match. I won’t lie – I didn’t catch on to who “Las Super Ranas” were right away, but at least I did get it before they were unmasked. CM Punk pointing out “They haven’t done one flip” was a hilarious and perfectly subtle reference to FTR’s former NXT gimmick (“no flips just fists”) before the masked men’s identities were ultimately revealed.
• That said, the Lucha Brothers losing their first match of the year even after realizing who they were facing seemed like and odd decision – don’t get me wrong, the prospect of FTR defending the gold in Mexico has to be exciting for anyone who watches AAA, but I feel like having them lose to a mystery team who only revealed themselves to be Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler after the match ended would have been more logical. As soon as their opponents were unmasked, the dual champions Penta and Rey Fenix should have been able to come up with a strategy to counteract their opponents. At least it took a dirty finish with a run-in, distraction, and belt shot all conspiring to screw over the now-former champs.
• Dr. Britt Baker DMD confronting Anna Jay over her “loser friends” in the Dark Order failing to defeat the Super Elite was a nice nod to Baker and Cole’s real-life relationship, and with Jungle Boy’s ongoing issues with Cole, could we see a clash of IRL couples in the near future? Please, AEW?
• The eliminator tournament bracket looks pretty good and sets up some great potential matches in the later rounds. I won’t harp on a few odd choices – Pres10 Vance and Dustin Rhodes are clearly there to lose in the first round and save guys with better records like Jungle Boy and Miro from losing unnecessarily – even if they do violate AEW’s supposed “rankings determine title opportunities” ethos. Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley seems like the most likely final at Full Gear, and I don’t see why anybody would complain about that result.
• Another week with relatively few Parting Shots – do you see what happens when you don’t book the Butcher, AEW?!

That’s it for another week – overall, this week’s Dynamite was good but not great, as some of the better matches were used up on Rampage the night before in an attempt to one-up WWE (nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, eh?) but there were still enough satisfying moments to make it worth watching. What were your favorite matches and moments from this week’s show? Let us know what you thought, give us a follow on Twitter @FilmIronic, and come back next Saturday for more Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner!