Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Double Or Nothing Fallout Dynamite

With Double or Nothing in the rearview mirror, AEW looked to turn the page toward its upcoming Forbidden Door show with New Japan while also building off of the events from this past Sunday’s pay-per-view. This week’s Dynamite featured the TV debut of a new champion, two (or technically three) new roster members, and two new honorary belts, and although a few members of the roster were worse for wear after a weekend in Vegas (and who can blame them?) there were plenty of big matches planned for the company’s Los Angeles debut. Did Tony Khan and co. succeed in leaving a favorable impression on the Kia Forum? Is the show trending in the right direction as we shift our attention to Forbidden Door? Let’s take a look at all the most memorable moments, for good and bad, from this week’s Hollywood-tinged edition of its weekly flagship.

Best Match of the Night

Normally I would pick two runners-up (runner-ups? Legit not sure which is grammatically correct but can’t be bothered to look it up) and a match of the night, but forcing myself to choose CM Punk and FTR against Max Caster and the Ass Boys (or Gunn Club, if you prefer) or Daniel Garcia vs. Jon Moxley would make me a sad writer boy, and me no words good when me no happy am. So instead I’m going to do what I want because it’s my column and I’ll break whatever rules I feel like because I’m the one who invented them in the first place and nobody else is going to enforce them if I don’t want to. The newly crowned AEW World Champion and the current Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions have been engaged in an unofficial competition about who’s the bigger Bret Hart fan over the past few months, so it made perfect sense that they’d team up for what former champion Hangpage Adam Man would call a “masturbatory Bret Hart tribute.” Maybe that’ll be their trios name if they continue working together. The gold-clad trio faced off against probably the most hilariously entertaining unexpected team-up in the Acclaimed and the Gunn Club, though it was a painful reminder that the company will have to suffer through Pride Month with Anthony Bowens in a wheelchair instead of in the ring. This match was a great choice for the opener, as all six men brought a fun energy to start off the show. You have to feel for CM Punk, though, who slipped on the top rope for the third time in less than a week. He did get up on the top turnbuckle and mouth “sorry” to the crowd before executing an elbow drop to a bit of a Bronx cheer from the LA fans. Punk also slipped a bit on a powerbomb that was supposed to knock Papa Billy off the apron and…er, kind of didn’t. The elder Gunn slid off the apron anyway, but to use a well-worn wrestling cliché, he didn’t get all of it. Jim Ross even said on commentary afterwards that some parts of the match were “bowling shoe ugly” if you want more wrestling clichés, but it did feed into Punk’s post-match claims that being AEW champion will force him to raise his game, as he obviously felt bad about not being as crisp as he wants to be. In my opinion, that just makes him more endearing as champ – I want to see him succeed too, and I feel bad about these slip-ups that happen to everyone at some point but just feed into a narrative among some online wrestling fans who think Punk has lost a step and question if he deserves the company’s top title. This match may not have quieted those criticisms, but it was a good first outing for the new champ overall, as he got a massive reaction from the crowd and the pairing with unexpectedly massive babyfaces FTR felt like a dream pairing that many fans likely never thought they’d get to see just a few years ago. Punk’s run with the top title is off to a good start, and hopefully he will have plenty of opportunities to prove AEW’s faith in him was justified as time goes on.

The main event between Daniel Garcia and Jon Moxley was a fine bookend on the post-Double or Nothing show as the Jericho Appreciation Society member clashed with a representative of the Blackpool Combat Club after their chaotic Anarchy in the Arena match. Garcia and Moxley didn’t particularly interact at the pay-per-view as far as I remember, so it made some sense to put them together, and Garcia was originally one of the young stars Bryan Danielson suggested he and Moxley could target to join their fledgling group of violent sociopaths. This match featured plenty of chops (or, as Lord William Regal insisted, “palm strikes” which are apparently more painful than just regular chops to the chest), submission holds, and counters, as you might expect from those involved, and it devolved late into both men trying to elbow each other in the head until one was able to lock in a submission hold. (Moxley was ultimately successful on that front, as you might also have expected.) Regal and Jericho added some levity to the proceedings on commentary even if they were at times a little overbearing – having five people trying to talk over a match is always a dicey proposition, but I enjoyed their banter for the most part anyway. For instance, Jericho saying he was surprised Regal was still alive (a sadly recycled line from their first showdown in AEW) was deftly countered by his Lordship, who responded, “Keep talking, you’ll bore me to death.” Jericho later mentioned his classic WCW promo calling himself the man of 1004 holds (a bit of one-upsmanship against his rival at the time, Dean Malenko, who was termed the man of 1000 holds) and claimed that “Garcia knows 43 more.” Okay, so none of that commentary stuff really has anything to do with the quality of the match itself, but it did make the segment more entertaining as a whole. Garcia reopened a wound in Mox’s forehead from the hardcore brawl from Double or Nothing, which added some additional drama to the proceedings, and he was the first person on the night to successfully lock in a Sharpshooter after the company suffered some criticism for some less-than-optimal execution of the Hart family signature hold at the pay-per-view. Hopefully the company continues to provide the up-and-coming technical specialist with spotlight opportunities even after the JAS has run its course. Moxley continues to be on the top of his game, and hopefully the Blackpool Combat Club continues to grow and thrive as time goes on. Also, hopefully they’ll remember Wheeler Yuta is a thing, as he’s been MIA lately for whatever reason.

Third runner up this week is reDRagon, the Young Bucks, and Hikuleo vs. Matt Hardy, Darby Allin, and Jurassic Express. Possibly the match most affected by the fallout from Double or Nothing, as both Adam Cole and Jeff Hardy were pulled from the match, the remaining performers still made the most of their time in the ring to deliver the kind of exciting multi-man match that AEW is known for. Everyone got their stuff in, with Jungle Boy delivering a hurricanrana over the top rope to the floor outside on Bobby Fish and the Young Bucks going on a superkick rampage being particular highlights. Hardy has apparently developed a new signature move in which he pounds an opponent’s head into the turnbuckles while the crowd chants “delete,” and he used it to good effect against four of his opponents, but of course the Samoan Hikuleo was immune to any sort of head-based offense. (“Never slam a Samoan’s head into the turnbuckle” remains universally true even in the year of our Lord 2022.) Ultimately it was reDRagon hitting a high/low and the Young Bucks hitting the Meltzer Driver on Jungle Boy that scored the win for the heels and furthered the narrative of JB being the weak link of Jurassic Express in the eyes of their mentor Christian Cage. That result was not too surprising, but as usual Jungle Jack was able to shine in the match that preceded it so he wouldn’t be hurt by taking the loss. In fact, I’d argue only Darby Allin and Hikuleo were somewhat overshadowed in the match, which makes sense because neither one had a particular reason for being in this match other than filling the shoes of someone who was originally scheduled to appear. Christian still looks primed to turn on his Tarzan ripoff ally at any moment now, Matt Hardy continues to be at odds with the Elite, and all four Elite members look to parlay their success in matches like this into further opportunities in the tag team division. There were multiple storylines served in a single match, everyone involved looked good, and the local boys got the win in front of an appreciative SoCal audience. (Of course, as Excalibur pointed out on commentary, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are local to Los Angeles as well, since Luchasaurus is from the La Brea Tar Pits, dontcha know.)

Match of the night, however, goes to a relatively unheralded match going into the night: Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho and Toni Storm. I have been somewhat critical of AEW’s treatment of its women’s division at times, but with three women’s matches on Double or Nothing (not to mention a mixed trios match that…okay, the less said about that the better) and a well worked match that was given plenty of time and featured four big stars in the division, it feels like this has been a particularly good week. All four women contributed their own highlights to the match, and rather than feeling like a compressed sprint, it felt like all the spots and sequences in this match had time to breathe. That doesn’t mean the match was worked at a slow pace, however – often, whenever one woman needed to sell an opponent’s offense, her teammate would be there to get involved and keep the action moving. Storm vs. Hayter was a running theme throughout the match, as Storm tried to get revenge for Hayter’s interference costing her a spot in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament final…sorta. With that said, though, the match ultimately came down to Soho and Baker, who had just faced off Sunday night, and the ongoing storyline that Baker has been the seemingly insurmountable obstacle in Soho’s AEW career so far. It was fitting, then, that Ruby debuted a new finisher, the Destination Unknown, to finally pick up the elusive win against the good doctor. (Yes, I did look it up and apparently she has used it before on Dark: Elevation, but I’d never seen it before and be honest, you hadn’t either.) Baker is already a star, and carrying around that sweet new Owen Hart belt (which we were reliably informed is a ceremonial trophy and not a title to be defended) will keep her looking like a big deal regardless, so it made sense to highlight the other women in this match and give the relative newcomer babyfaces the win. Jamie Hayter, meanwhile, continues to have some issues with Baker, and we might well have the female version of Wardlow on our hands if she ever decides to break out of her mentor’s shadow and turn babyface. This match may not have been the highest profile or featured the biggest stars of any match on the night, but it was the one match that over-delivered on its potential to such a degree that it fully deserved match of the night honors.

Best Moment of the Night

It may have been a relatively small moment in an otherwise fine but not great promo segment, but Chris Jericho questioning what kind of man tries to burn another man (referring to Eddie Kingston dousing him in gasoline and trying to light him on fire at Double or Nothing) was hilarious given how he brags about being a wizard who’ll throw a fireball in your face if you so much as look at him weird. Or, as a random stagehand learned last week, if you wear a Jon Moxley shirt (*gasp*) in the backstage area. I always like when heels are oblivious to their own hypocrisy, and Jericho’s delivery just made me chuckle. Another strong contender for moment of the night, though the match it produced was good but not enough to make me list five matches under match of the night, was the return of Miro. A lot of people, myself included, have been anxiously anticipating the Redeemer’s return, and his intense promo before taking on the open challenge of Johnny Elite (sorry, bruh) was a welcome reminder of what his whole deal is. Though his return was somewhat spoiled (or, if you’re being charitable, foreshadowed) by his wife on Twitter, it was still a nice surprise for those who don’t follow her or just don’t pay that much attention to the bird app. And shouldn’t we all strive to pay less attention to that cesspit of negativity? I mean, except for following us @FilmIronic, of course. We won’t spoil your enjoyment of wrestling or bring you any unnecessary negativity, we promise.

I’m somewhat hesitant to give MJF‘s promo moment of the night, but considering it will almost certainly be the most talked-about segment from the show, I am going to go with it and hope for the best. The problem is not knowing where all of this is going – if it’s a work and he’s working with Tony Khan behind the scenes to get a contract extension figured out, then it’s totally fine. Heck, if it’s a worked shoot and MJF is using these promo segments to put increased public pressure on TK to re-work his deal, that’s also fine with me. But I worry that this whole storyline is just working him into a shoot and he really will leave at the end of all this, in which case all of this will end up being very sad in hindsight. I think MJF is absolutely correct when he labels himself a “generational talent” and he would be a great fit for WWE if he chose to leave when his contract is up, but devoting TV time to him airing his very real grievances against the company only makes sense if there is a plan to address those issues behind the scenes. This promo will inevitably be compared to CM Punk’s “pipebomb” promo in which he laid out everything he perceived to be wrong with WWE at the time, but the reason that promo is somewhat painful to revisit nowadays is the realization of how little has changed in the almost 11 years since it happened. We knew when he cut that promo that he really wasn’t going to take the WWE title and leave, though some of us (myself included) hoped he would go on a tour of indie promotions with the belt and maybe pop up in Ring of Honor or NJPW for a match or two, but the catharsis of the pipebomb was in the hope that it might wake WWE up to the discontent shared by its performers and its fans. In MJF’s case, there is no significant discontentment among fans, though apparently there may be more unhappiness backstage than many might realize. But while Punk became known as the “voice of the voiceless” for speaking up about issues that affected more than just himself, MJF isn’t echoing the sentiments of wrestlers who have previously criticized the company on the way out; his grievances may embolden other AEW originals to renegotiate more favorable terms for themselves, but he is primarily lobbying for a better contract for himself rather than systemic change in the company. And the fact is, we’ve seen real contract drama played out on television very recently without a satisfying payoff for AEW fans – Cody Rhodes openly referenced the fact that his contract was expiring and he wanted a new one before leaving for WWE. It’s widely accepted that he’s been better used by the Fed than he was in AEW, so there’s no sour grapes about how it all worked out for him in the end, but it seems like AEW should have more control over these worked shoot-style angles because while most wrestling fans want to believe in the fiction they’re being presented, I can certainly say for myself that I would rather know there is going to be a satisfying payoff rather than someone just abruptly leaving and the “storyline” such as it was being dropped. That’s not to say MJF’s promo work hasn’t been great even if he does actually leave AEW when all is said and done, but I feel like it would be a greater source of regret if Khan is unable to re-sign him that it all played out on TV. Imagine if he left the company after an enjoyable run at the top of the card – sure, it would still be disappointing that we wouldn’t get to see him continue that work in the company, but at least we could go back and re-watch his final matches and promos without thinking, “Wow, he sure meant it when he said he was done with this company.” And just for the record, as with Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on WWE, I don’t have a problem with MJF wanting out if he feels dissatisfied – he definitely should be one of the highest paid wrestlers in the company, he’s just completed two of the best storylines in AEW’s short history with Punk and Wardlow, and he has every right to take advantage of  Anyway, that’s a lot of words about why I’m not entirely comfortable with this entire angle, but MJF’s promo skills are undeniable and the crowd went absolutely bonkers for everything he had to say, so it’s a promo worth seeking out if you somehow missed it the first time around.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee, but their backstage promo this week was just bizarre. First of all, I don’t know who the three people with them for the promo were – somebody from the MCU and a guy who brought Swerve a jacket of some kind? – and as much as I don’t mind local celebrities being brought in to pop the crowd (within reason), the show was in Los Angeles. You couldn’t find someone recognizable in Hollywood? We saw Vince Vaughn and Macaulay Culkin in the crowd later in the evening – you’re telling me nobody like that was available? Swerve even referenced past Laker greats who had played in the Kia Forum back before the naming rights were owned by Kia – there wasn’t a retired B-tier basketball player who could have popped up instead? Thankfully it was a short segment and the focus was brought back to Swerve in our Glory by the end of it, but the other stuff was just a weird distraction as far as I was concerned. Now, with that mild criticism aside, let’s move on.

Parting Shots

• “Scissor me, Daddy Ass” is a super weird line out of context…and still pretty weird in context, let’s be real.
• We got our first real preview of Forbidden Door when Hiroshi Tanahashi emerged to answer CM Punk’s open challenge – that would obviously be a great matchup and deserves a bit of build to make sure the wider audience understands the significance of what will likely be the show’s main event. The crowd in Chicago will go nuts for Punk regardless, and the Windy City is home to a generally pretty smart wrestling crowd so I doubt they would fail to give the Ace of New Japan his due even if the matchup wasn’t announced ahead of time, but as Punk said, the company does have to sell this pay-per-view.
• I know what AEW was going for having William Regal say the line when announcing what kind of match Eddie Kingston wants against Chris Jericho and his boys, but Lord Regal needs to work on his delivery for “Blood and Guts” – it didn’t have that iconic “War Games” feel. Also, I cannot imagine caring about either Chris Jericho or Ortiz’s hair, so them having a hair vs. hair match is an odd choice.
• Is Kris Statlander more over than Athena? I enjoy the former Ember Moon’s work and look forward to her in-ring debut, but it felt like Statlander’s appearance for a three-on-three faceoff against Jade Cargill, Red Velvet, and Keira Hogan drew the biggest reaction of the segment. Not the debuting Athena, not Anna Jay backing her up, and not even Stokely Hathaway who was also debuting on Dynamite. Granted, Athena just popped up at Double or Nothing and Statlander has been building a fanbase for quite a while now, and her recent turn to a darker persona rather than the Galaxy’s Greatest Alien makes her seem legit enough to challenge for a title like, say, Jade Cargill’s TBS Championship. I just thought it was an interesting quirk of the segment ostensibly designed to get Athena over with a new audience – hopefully the powers that be are paying attention and have a plan in place to give Statlander her due.
• If this week’s match was Wardlow’s first as an official member of the AEW roster, shouldn’t his official record for rankings purposes be 1-0? If he was previously only employed by MJF, do those matches count just because they were against contracted AEW wrestlers?

That’s it for another week – this was a very good episode of Dynamite after a somewhat mediocre pay-per-view, in my opinion, and I’m looking forward to Forbidden Door even though I couldn’t get tickets to see it in person. Boo hoo first world problems. Thanks so much for joining me once again, and I hope you’ll all come back next week for more Chair Shots!