Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: 3rd Anniversary Dynamite
All Elite Wrestling kicked off its weekly programming on October 2nd, 2019 as the first episode of Dynamite aired live from Washington DC. On October 5th, 2022, AEW celebrated three years of its flagship show from the same place it all began, Washington DC. While the show’s anniversary was not quite as loaded as special edition shows like Grand Slam or Fyter Fest, it was clear that the company attempted to put on a quality show with an extra-long runtime and appearances from many of the biggest stars built up over the last three years. Although there was only one title match on the show, we were promised significant developments in the tag title and world title scenes, and several top stars were given the opportunity to improve their standing in the company’s all-important ranking system. Which matches and moments were worthy of the company’s big anniversary show, and which failed to deliver up to the level of quality established over the last three years?
Best Match of the Night
As I mentioned in the intro, it felt kind of odd to only have the TNT Championship defended, especially considering the title didn’t exist when Dynamite started three years ago, but at least Wardlow and Brian Cage put on a good showing for two big muscle men trading power moves for around ten minutes. It was good to see Cage back on AEW television, though it remains obvious that The Machine is treading water until Ring of Honor gets fully off the ground again, if that ever ends up happening. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why Cage doesn’t feel like an AEW guy (and never really did, if we’re being honest) but he does feel like the exact kind of guy who could enjoy an RoH push similar to what Wardlow has experienced in AEW, which is partly why this match worked so well. Nobody really thought Cage would win, of course, but it was fun to see Wardlow face off against a sort of alternate universe version of himself, matching him in strength and surprising agility. This was never going to be a three-powerbomb squash match – no, it was clearly going to take four powerbombs for Wardlow to win. Which he did. But it took more than just the Powerbomb Symphony to seal the deal for the champ, which is why it was elevated to an honorable mention for best match of the night rather than just an easily ignored afterthought. Wardlow hit a hurricanrana, Cage hit a headscissors into an attempted 619, and Cage hit a deadlift suplex from the apron to the ring. Those moves would be notable by themselves, but they were especially eye-catching considering who they hit those moves on – Cage lifted his nearly 300-pound opponent like he was a cruiserweight, and both men took a turn channeling their inner Rey Mysterio in between the more meat-slapping moves you might have expected from two guys their size. Wardlow probably should be facing higher-profile opponents at this point in his run with the title, but I’m totally down for a good one-off match like this every once in a while, and it’s nice to see that the company hasn’t entirely abandoned Brian Cage.
It may surprise some, but I thought the women’s trios match also deserved a shoutout this week. Yes, the Saraya-Britt Baker drama still overshadowed it to an extent, but having Willow Nightingale, Athena, and interim Women’s World Champion Toni Storm in the ring with Serena Deeb, Jamie Hayter, and Penelope Ford still served as a showcase of the depth AEW’s women’s division is capable of when given an opportunity. It’s easy to focus on only the top stars, but Ford, Deeb, and Nightingale in particular are just waiting for an opportunity to break out, though Hayter seems the most likely to be pushed as a top star. AEW is great at booking multi-competitor matches, and this was no exception – everyone had an opportunity to look good, especially Willow Nightingale who picked up the win for the babyface team. It was a bummer to learn she probably only got the pin so she can be fed to Jade Cargill on Battle of the Belts IV this Friday night, but hopefully the company has bigger and better things to come for the young star. Deeb and Storm have great chemistry together, and Storm’s hip attack remains one of the most impactful-looking moves in the industry. Nobody in the match was as over as Hayter, though she could have played a bigger role in my opinion, but it was probably smart to keep her out of the way if the faces were going to win in the end. There is still no clear challenger for Storm’s title going forward, but there is plenty of time to nail down her next opponent before Full Gear, and it’s probably not a bad call to have matches like this that build up the division as a whole every once in a while.
What shouldn’t surprise anyone is my pick for match of the night – there’s an obvious reason I didn’t want to include the main event on this list, which I’ll get into shortly – but MJF vs. Wheeler Yuta was undeniably great as the opening match for such a big show. It makes a ton of sense that the company wanted to highlight two of its young stars as a way of looking ahead even as it celebrates its relatively brief history. MJF gets plenty of credit for what he’s regularly able to accomplish on the mic, but his wrestling ability is sometimes overshadowed by his promo ability. Matches like this help remind us that he’s just as good between the ropes as he is with a microphone in his hand, which seems to happen regularly but I suppose it was unsurprising that some needed a reminder as Friedman hadn’t wrestled since Double or Nothing in May. Wheeler Yuta isn’t yet as big a star as his opponent, but he’s been a workhorse for the company lately and seems to put on a great match every time he steps foot in the ring. There were plenty of counters back and forth, Yuta delivered a sequence of picture-perfect German suplexes, and MJF fused a powerbomb and backbreaker into a singularly painful-looking hybrid. Nobody expected Yuta to win, of course, but the former RoH Pure Champion held his own for most of the match and wasn’t harmed by the finish in which MJF managed to prevent a rope break and lock in the Salt of the Earth armbar at an even more painful angle. The announce team made a point of how close this match was, and although it was obvious who would win from the outset, the match was laid out so well that the intent was clearly to get both men over rather than just to build up MJF for his eventual showdown with AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. I don’t expect Yuta to knock off Wardlow for the TNT Championship or anything, but the company is clearly invested in his development and sees big things for him in the future. MJF is clearly the bigger deal, however, and although they easily could have had him do nothing but cut promos until he likely unseats Moxley for the title, it is always appreciated when AEW delivers more than it has to.
Best Moment of the Night
William Regal donning the brass knucks once again to pull a “that’s not a knife, THAT’S a knife” on MJF as he threatened Wheeler Yuta with the Dynamite Diamond ring was hilarious and well done. The entire post-match angle between MJF and the Firm was intriguing too, with Lee Moriarty jumping Yuta against his boss’ boss’ orders. (I see Stokely Hathaway as a sort of middle manager in this organizational chart with MJF as the CEO.) But the fact that we’ve rarely seen Lord Regal actually threaten, much less dish out, physical violence since his debut in the company made the showdown with the scarf-wearing heel even more notable.
Jon Moxley‘s confrontation with Adam Page following his match with Rush (which was decent but not quite good enough to warrant an honorable mention for match of the night in my opinion) was also good even though the involvement of Private Party was a serious head-scratcher to me. Moxley and Page should be a great match in a couple of weeks, and having Mox address the backstage drama by warning Page not to run his mouth and get himself into trouble was a smart way to put some of the internet chatter to bed. Page clearly wasn’t backing down, and Moxley clearly wanted to hold off on the physicality until they could face off in his hometown. Both men are ready to throw down but will only do so with the title on the line, and that anticipation was palpable in this relatively short but effective segment.
Moment of the night clearly goes to the National Scissor Day ceremony featuring the Acclaimed and Billy Gunn. The company devoted quite a significant chunk of the show to this segment, and it was absolutely delivered from start to finish. “Scissoring is a handshake,” Max Caster talking about his dad being on Washington’s Super Bowl championship team, Daddy Ass presenting the boys with a giant pair of golden scissors…it was phenomenal. (Though don’t run with scissors, kids.) Swerve Strickland interrupting so we never got the great bipartisan scissor that would have healed all the division in this country should absolutely be counted as a war crime. I could list all of the highlights in this single segment, but we’d be here all day. Suffice to say, I think this segment will go down as one of the absolute best in the company’s early years. No, you won’t be able to easily explain to your non-wrestling fan friends why everyone in the crowd is carrying cardboard scissors and aggressively shoving their fingers together, but I imagine even someone entirely unacquainted with the Acclaimed’s whole schtick would get swept up in the insane level of hype that this segment generated. AEW has had a hard time generating goodwill lately, but pulling the trigger on Caster and Bowen as tag champs has been an undeniable success when it comes to feel-good moments that everyone can get in on. Because everyone loves the Acclaimed. Even famed food TV personality Alton Brown.
Worst Matches/Moments of the Night
As I mentioned, AEW has been struggling on the PR front lately, with more attention being diverted by locker room nonsense than the scripted action in the ring. That’s why it was so baffling that the company chose to have Sammy Guevara in the main event after he and Andrade El Idolo spent the last week beefing on Twitter and reportedly got into a fight backstage before the show. Granted, it seems clear that Andrade was the one trying to pick a fight as he tries to get himself fired from his apparently long-term deal, but Guevara still stoked the fires on social media in the leadup to this confrontation. Maybe both men should have been sent home, or maybe the card could have been reshuffled to keep Guevara out of the main event. Would anyone have questioned it if MJF had decreed he wouldn’t return to this $#!thole company (or, given the company’s recent penchant for censorship, maybe we’d have to settle for “poopsville company” instead) for anything less than the main event spot, and Guevara’s match with Chris Jericho against Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia had gone on first to get it out of the way instead? It’s not like either match was inherently more meaningful than the other – in fact, MJF is arguably the bigger deal as he hadn’t wrestled in several months and he holds the poker chip for a future world title match of his choosing. Or, y’know, maybe just give Danielson and Garcia the win? Regardless, the crowd reaction to Guevara after reports of the backstage altercation broke earlier in the day tell you everything you need to know about how people are feeling about him these days, and while I’m sure some will say he is doing his job drawing heat from the crowd as a heel, it’s clear that making real-life issues into on-screen storylines has not served AEW well lately. It’s gotten to the point where even a wrestler like Guevara, who has an arsenal of crowd-popping moves, draws less of a reaction just because fans are tired of all the drama. I don’t think releasing a disgruntled employee like Andrade solves matters either – sending him home to sit out his contract unless he can be professional seems like the better way of handling his situation – but the fact that the company didn’t handle this situation better and either prevent the confrontation in the first place or at least prevent the final image of the night from being Sammy Guevara celebrating a big win tells me that this situation isn’t being treated as seriously as it needs to by the company’s higher-ups. That’s a major institutional failure, and one that seriously undermines any optimism one might have for the company’s future.
Parting Shots
- It’s a shame that Christian Cage is injured right now, as his match against Jungle Boy was clearly the endgame of this entire angle, but at this point I expect JB vs. Luchasaurus to be stretched out to Full Gear, meaning next week’s match in Toronto will most likely have some sort of inconclusive finish. That isn’t a terrible thing by any means, as the personal betrayal and breakup of Jurassic Express is still a powerful storyline, but it feels like we won’t get the real Luke Skywalker/Emperor Palpatine showdown for a while, which will likely lessen its impact.
- Saraya coming to blows with Britt Baker after the good doctor revealed the former Paige is not medically cleared earlier in the evening was an unsurprising but welcome (-ish) development, as it hints at the fact that Saraya may actually get into the ring sooner than later. It still feels odd that she wasn’t crowing about her intention to compete in AEW rather than just being some sort of women’s division authority figure from the moment she debuted, but at least a feud with Baker figures to give the company another storyline to develop aside from its world title and TBS title picture.
- I don’t always want to comment on crowd signs – that’s Maffew from Botchamania’s thing, after all – but I did appreciate the “Hey! EW” shoutout for the second straight week. RJ City is a national treasure (even though he’s Canadian) and the more people who can be made aware of his contributions to AEW’s Youtube channel, the better.
That’s it for another week – really good show overall, even if the ending left a bad taste in my mouth as it probably did for many others. Still, there is at least some positive momentum for the company with MJF and the Acclaimed doing good work, and with guys like Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson leading the way, I feel like there are brighter days ahead. I just really hope people will take Ricky Starks’ (now-deleted) advice and cool it with the backstage drama so fans can actually appreciate and enjoy the in-ring product again. Thanks for joining me, and I hope to see you all back here again next week for more Chair Shots!
