Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: AEW Dynamite Nov 10th

AEW rolled into Indianapolis with one final chance (well, besides Rampage on Friday) to build hype for Full Gear on Saturday night, to establish the rivalries worth watching out for at the pay-per-view, to raise the stakes for the most important matches, and convince anyone on the fence that it’s worth plunking down their hard-earned money for the show. How well did they succeed in that mission? What matches and rivalries came out of the show looking must-watch and which could be primed for a bathroom break spot on the pay-per-view? Let’s take a look at the final stop on the road to Full Gear.

Best Match of the Night

The formula for most of the in-ring action this week was pairing/partnering someone who is scheduled to have a match at Full Gear with someone who isn’t scheduled for a match on Saturday. That formula largely paid off, as there were quite a few quality matches on the show. Case in point, Full Gear opponents Tay Conti and Dr. Britt Baker DMD teamed up with Thunder Rosa, Anna Jay, Rebel, and Jamie Hayter for a well worked trios match that really only suffered because of the commercial break in the middle. Still, this match was a great showcase especially for the babyfaces, one of whom is almost guaranteed to be the one to dethrone Baker for the Women’s World Championship. Conti in particular looked great and feels like a decent threat to Baker even if Full Gear feels too soon for anyone to take the belt off the good doctor, and Thunder Rosa is going strong into her second round TBS Championship tournament match against Hayter. Throw in Anna Jay, who is one of the most improved wrestlers in 2021, and you have a formidable team to stand against the heels at the top of the division, who also played their roles well in this match. Another standout of the “one is going to Full Gear, one is not” matches was Jungle Boy vs. Anthony Bowens. AEW has recently had quite a bit of success taking one half of a tag team and turning them into a singles star, with Dante Martin (more on him in a moment) being the most notable example, but Bowens is working his way into that role with a hot run between his match with Bryan Danielson on Rampage and now a standout performance against one of the pillars of AEW. Their styles meshed well and apart from the commercial break in the middle (yes, it’s virtually always a problem, and no, I won’t stop pointing it out) the match had a good flow that kept the audience invested throughout, even though the result was never really in question. Easily the best example of the “yes PPV vs. no PPV” match was Dax Harwood vs. PAC. (Edit: Um actually, both guys are going to be on Full Gear, as it was announced that PAC would be teaming with Cody Rhodes to face Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black. At least I can say going into the match only one of them was scheduled for a match at Full Gear.) There were multiple sequences in this match that were jaw-dropping in terms of fluidity and timing, and the sheer physicality and technical precision both men brought to the table was incredible. Dax Harwood in particular took a ton of punishment, bleeding from the chest after numerous chops softened him up and a big tope suicida busted him open, and although he is somewhat underrated as a singles competitor as a tag team specialist, his old-school offensive output in this match, including a picture-perfect spinebuster and a slingshot Liger Bomb, showcased his ability to stand on his own even without Cash Wheeler by his side. PAC continues to be one of the more underutilized stars in AEW, but when he does get a spotlight as he did here, he consistently delivers in a major way. That top-rope brainbuster was a particular highlight even if it scares the heck out of me, and of course his Brutalizer submission for the win was a thing of beauty as always. A big part of me still can’t believe this isn’t my match of the night. I was way into this match, and it was probably the only match of the night that didn’t necessarily have a foregone conclusion, which usually gets bonus points from me.

Truth be told, however, sometimes the best thing to do on the go-home show before a pay-per-view is to schedule a match between four guys who don’t have a spot on the show so they can go all out, and in this case it was Dante Martin and Lio Rush vs. Matt Sydal and Lee Moriarty who put on the best display of holding nothing back right before Full Gear. The Man of the Hour may be annoying to many, and his social media exploits often get him in hot water among fans and co-workers alike, but his in-ring ability should never be questioned as was on full display in his in-ring debut for AEW. Dante Martin continues to build his resume as the breakout star of 2021, and his association with Rush promises to keep him in the limelight for a good while, especially when his brother Darius inevitably returns and has to choose between winning his brother back over to the side of good or joining him under Rush’s nefarious guidance. Matt Sydal continues to be a solid, reliable performer who can bust out an impressive high-flying arsenal whenever called upon to do so, and Lee Moriarty is one of the more intriguing young performers on the roster who clearly has a devoted fanbase already – the crowd chanted his name at multiple points in the match, despite the fact that he is arguably the least established performer of the four. Given the reputation of all four men, this was an unsurprisingly fast-paced, high-flying affair, but there was more structure to the match than your usual spot-fest, and the pace was consistent without feeling rushed. The tag team division continues to be one of the biggest highlights in AEW, and it will be interesting to see how these two teams fit in going forward – Rush and Martin in particular would not feel out of place with FTR or the Young Bucks, even if they aren’t yet positioned as a threat to the titles, while Sydal and Moriarty figure to carve out a niche on Dark and Elevation while Moriarty climbs the singles ranks. It was a tough call to crown one best match this week, but the sheer talent on display in this tag match just barely put it over the top of everything else from a strong episode from an in-ring perspective.

Best Moment of the Night

As strong as the matches were this week, there really wasn’t much to write home about otherwise. Besides some short promos and recaps of feuds that have been built up heading into Full Gear, there was really only one notable segment on the night, and it was a rushed contract signing between Kenny Omega and Adam Page that delivered in the broad strokes but felt like it could have been more impactful if they had more time to work with. Given the fact that the company has steadily built up this rivalry over the past year, there wasn’t a lot more ground to cover here anyway, but the ambush from Don Callis who had disguised himself as a cameraman felt unnecessary given how little time they had to let the moment land before the show went off the air. Some other cool moments on the show included Rocky Romero just…being on AEW TV. Like, that’s just cool in my opinion, especially facing off against Bryan Danielson in the show opener. Plus he invited Orange Cassidy and Best Friends (including Kris Statlander and Wheeler Yuta, apparently) to join New Japan’s Chaos stable on behalf of Kazuchika Okada, which is also a rad development.

Moment of the night has to go to Adam Cole revealing he was behind Bobby Fish’s post-match attack on Jungle Boy – sure, we can’t have a full Undisputed Era reunion just yet (though the Bucks have puns! So that’s something) but it was cool to see the two cross paths in AEW now that they’ve left NXT in the rearview mirror. Fish makes sense as another Superkliq/Elite lackey, and although they may never show up to help him win matches, he can kind of be in their orbit for whenever they need someone to do their dirty work who’s slightly more reliable than Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa. It was a brief and somewhat inconsequential moment, but the fans obviously loved it, and there wasn’t much else of note outside of the major matches on the card to challenge it for best moment of the night honors.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

Other than the issues I’ve already mentioned (mainly recaps/pre-taped talking segments to hype Full Gear, main event segment felt kind of rushed) there really wasn’t anything bad on the show. The American Top Team/Inner Circle segment wasn’t anything amazing but at least it didn’t overstay its welcome or involve too much banter between middle aged white guys, and Wardlow vs. Wheeler Yuta might have been a glorified squash match but at least it set up a post-match angle that saw Matt Hardy deliver a Twist of Hate with a chair wrapped around Orange Cassidy’s neck. Like…there just wasn’t anything to really complain about this week, y’know?

Parting Shots

• Since there isn’t much else to talk about from this week’s show, I’m going to devote this segment to predictions for Full Gear. As always, don’t bet on pro wrestling, kiddos. These predictions are just for fun and for you all to tell me how much I suck after I get everything wrong.
  • Andrade and Malakai Black defeat Cody Rhodes and PAC – it feels like this match could go either way really, but the lack of chemistry between Cody and PAC makes it feel more likely that they’ll lose and let the heel team get the win to build up their credibility. Cody doesn’t need the win and PAC just had a barnburner with Dax Harwood, so they’ll be fine.
  • The Superkliq defeats Jurassic Express and Christian Cage – I really feel like Christian should turn heel at some point and just go off on Jungle Boy trying to steal his spotlight, but they haven’t really played up that sort of rivalry that seemed to be brewing between the two men in a while, so maybe that isn’t a thing anymore. As I pointed out last week, Christian hitting an unprovoked con-chair-to on Adam Cole drew absolutely no response from his partners, which seems odd if they were planting seeds for an edgier Christian (yes, pun intended) to turn on the virtuous goody two-shoes Jungle Boy. In any event, Cole and the Bucks should get their revenge on the group that just laid them out last week, probably by utilizing the numbers game somehow since this is a falls count anywhere match.
  • CM Punk defeats Eddie Kingston – it just feels too soon for Punk to lose his first match. I expect a show of respect after these two guys beat the hell out of each other, assuming they aren’t planning on turning Punk heel, and they’ll largely go their separate ways after delivering an out-of-nowhere banger.
  • The Lucha Brothers retain their AEW Tag Team Championships against FTR – another “too soon for them to lose” match here, as Penta and Rey Fenix have only held the titles for a relatively short time and really haven’t even had any notable title defenses yet.
  • The Inner Circle defeat American Top Team, probably with Jericho or Sammy pinning Dan Lambert – let’s face it, Dos Santos and Arlovsky are going to be neutralized somehow so they aren’t hurt by taking the pinfall, and it feels wrong to have one of the actual wrestlers in the match get pinned, so it seems like Lambert is the only real option here.
  • Darby Allin defeats MJF – unless the feud is going to continue, it seems like Allin really should win here to prove that he hasn’t been taken off his game mentally or physically by the loudmouth heel and his cronies. I doubt we see a Wardlow face turn here, but I suppose it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility – if anything, though, I could see a miscommunication between bodyguard and employer that helps set up the finish and furthers the tension between the Pinnacle members going forward.
  • Bryan Danielson defeats Miro – I know that having the heel win might seem to make more sense given what’s likely to happen in the main event, but I think the American Dragon vs. the Anxious Millennial Cowboy is too good a match to pass up, and it would likely be fairly similar to Danielson vs. Omega in that the face/heel dynamic gets thrown out the window for pure athletic competition. Plus, this could be a way of continuing the feud between Omega and Danielson – if the Yes Man takes the champ to the limit but can’t get the job done, Omega could come back around to rub his face in it and set up another clash between the two, possibly at next year’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view. Miro can certainly still get into the title picture somehow or other, but I think the immediate way forward is to have Danielson vs. Page as the first title match of the new year (or last title match of this year) to really get as many eyes on the product as possible and put over Adam Page as the company’s next big star.
  • Dr. Britt Baker DMD retains her AEW Women’s World Championship against Tay Conti – I still think the endgame is Baker dropping the belt to Thunder Rosa sometime next year, but I expect Conti to put on a strong showing here and possibly remain in the title picture until Rosa definitively steps up to challenge the champ.
  • Adam Page defeats Kenny Omega to become the new AEW World Champion – a lot of people wanted this to happen at All Out before Page stepped away to be with his wife and their new baby, but it feels like now has to be his time in the spotlight. The entire show for an entire year has revolved around his story with former best friend Kenny Omega, and it feels like pushing out the culmination of that story any further, or even worse not paying off that storyline with the conclusion everyone has wanted to see all along, would be a major misstep of the kind AEW has been very adept at avoiding in its short history. I would be utterly shocked and not a little disappointed if Full Gear ends in anything other than the crowning moment of Adam Page’s career as he becomes world champion for the first time.

So that’s it for another episode of Dynamite – all in all, a very good show and a pretty nice way to cap off the build to Full Gear. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @FilmIronic, check out the rest of our content from the world of entertainment, and enjoy Full Gear this Saturday! We’ll see you back here next week for all the fallout!