Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Devil’s In The Details Dynamite

AEW is closing in on Full Gear, and this week’s Dynamite from Portland, OR was one of the company’s final opportunities to generate excitement for its penultimate premium show of 2023. Two title matches and some unexpected surprises contributed to a big show feel, but the question remains: did this week’s Dynamite deliver as much as it needed to for the second-to-last entry in its flagship weekly show before the pay-per-view?

Best Match of the Night

I have to say, making the champion and #1 contender defend their spot at the pay-per-view that is just two weeks away isn’t the most compelling setup, especially when neither of the challengers figures to get the win or even challenge for a spot in the eventual title match. However, in this case, it did give us two decent matches to bookend the show, so it could be worse. The decent-er of the two matches, in my opinion, was the opener between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Daniel Garcia for the AEW World Championship. No duh, MJF won, but putting a rising star like Garcia in the match was a good choice to show how far he’s come since joining the Jericho Appreciation Society not just as a wrestler, which he was always good at, but also as a fan favorite. Of course, his heelish accountabilibuddies Matt Menard and Angelo Parker were also out there to make sure he didn’t do anything fun like dance or wrestle too well so people start liking him more so he might leave them behind because he doesn’t need them anymore and really hasn’t for a very long time. Y’know, regular heel stuff. MJF worked over Garcia’s arm and tried to hit the Heatseeker to put his opponent away, while Garcia used his repertoire of suplexes and strikes to keep himself in the match. There was also the sort of schtick you’d expect from these two, with MJF offering a handshake and starting a “sportsmanship” chant before poking Garcia in the eye because lol what else would you expect he’s still a scumbag. Garcia thought about dancing at one point but the aforementioned Menard and Parker were there to tell him not to do that. Of course, Garcia’s damaged arm (and possibly also his lack of dancing) led to his downfall as MJF locked in the Salt of the Earth armbar to force a tapout. This match was the perfect example of how an opening match doesn’t have to be a fast-paced sprint between two high-flyers to totally slap. The more technical style of this match may not have been what you’d normally expect, but Friedman and Garcia are popular enough that it worked to get the show off to a hot start.

Another notably good match on the night was Samoa Joe defending his Ring of Honor World Television Championship against Keith Lee. I will never cease to be disappointed that Lee hasn’t been used better by either of the main wrestling companies in America, but my hope springs eternal that AEW or RoH will figure out what they have on their hands with him. Like Charlie Brown, I continually let my desire to believe I’m finally getting what I want before ultimately getting let down once again. It’s nearly Thanksgiving after all. Well, Lee wasn’t going to win the title from the longest-running TV champ on this night, but he at least got to put on a great big man vs. big man match in defeat. This match was pure power from start to finish, with plenty of “big meaty men slappin’ meat” spots as you’d expect, but of course these two are also among the most agile big men in wrestling so we got some impressive athletic spots too. Lee came into the match with a modest winning streak, according to the on-screen graphic, and he was relatively protected by the finish in which he passed out in the Coquina Clutch rather than tapping out or being pinned. I would also like to mention that although I’m not going to put the post-match segment in the running for my moment of the night, but it absolutely deserves credit for being pretty great. Joe grabbed a mic and said although he is the greatest TV champ of all time, he didn’t come to this company just to win the TV title and has his sights set on the AEW championship instead. He lay down the belt and declared it vacant, stating he would soon be hoisting MJF’s championship whether the champ liked it or not. Joe has been great during his time in AEW, so it’s no surprise that this segment went over so well with the live crowd. Now if only Lee could get the same treatment.

The overall best match of the night didn’t have the same title significance of the other two matches, but it did feature two incredible performers who should be in contention for title gold in the not-too-distant future. Swerve Strickland and Penta are among the most athletic wrestlers on the roster, and they made the most of the time they were given, which was fairly significant for a midcard match. In fact, it got nearly as much time as the main event between Jay White and Mark Briscoe, which was also a good match but didn’t quite make enough of an impression on me to find its way into this segment of the review. Swerve could absolutely find himself in the world title picture after his rivalry with Adam Page wraps up (hopefully at Full Gear – it’s been great but stretched on longer than it needed to) even though the title picture is already fairly crowded with Samoa Joe and Wardlow lining themselves up for a shot at the champ. Penta doesn’t have as direct a claim to a solo title shot, though his Lucha Bro Rey Fenix’s recent reign as International Champion would supply a logical reason for him to seek solo gold for himself while his brother is reportedly dealing with an injury. Regardless of their championship aspirations, though, this was an incredibly good match between two wrestlers whose styles complemented each other perfectly. There were dives, stomps, and splashes aplenty as these two threw everything they had at each other. Prince Nana and Alex Abrahantes largely remained uninvolved, the Mogul Embassy remained backstage, and Hangman Page was banned from ringside, so there was very little to get in the way of this match playing out as intended. Of course, Page returned post-match to take out some of his rage at having his home broken into, but until then it was a straight-up one-on-one contest. There were plenty of near falls and some genuine “holy [expletive deleted]” moments, and although Swerve was always most likely to win, Penta still got in plenty of offense to make the audience believe he just might pull off the (minor) upset. Swerve is on the cusp of becoming the company’s biggest Black star, though, and the priority should remain on building him up as such to help combat the perception that AEW has not been the utopia of diversity that many fans and wrestlers alike were hoping it would become. His ascension alone would not lay that criticism to rest, of course, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Best Moment of the Night

The Young Bucks laying out a challenge to the newly named “Golden Jets” Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega was a great moment and an example of taking a storyline that could easily have been abandoned and making something out of it. Now, I want to state first and foremost that I do not think AEW originally intended for things to play out the way they did, as the internet made a big stink over the fact that the Bucks won a guaranteed title shot a while back and yet it was never referenced on TV. The fact that Omega and Jericho challenged them to put that title shot on the line should not in any way be construed as AEW definitely remembering and intending to do it this way all along, but I am glad that they didn’t just drop the angle entirely. The Bucks telling Jericho and Omega that they must agree to never tag together again if they lose the match at Full Gear was a nice twist and might set Jericho up for a heel turn, which might seem predictable but would lead to an enjoyable feud between him and Omega. The Bucks could also turn on Kenny for abandoning them, for that matter. I can honestly say I didn’t expect this tag match to happen at all, much less at Full Gear, but it was a welcome development nonetheless.

Best moment of the night honors have to go to the post-main event angle which saw MJF sneak attack Bullet Club Gold, only to discover that (apparently) the same masked figures who attacked Jay White to kick off this rivalry had taken out The Acclaimed backstage. Up to this point, there has been plenty of speculation, especially by Roderick Strong, that MJF has been the ringleader behind the devil mask, but this beatdown surely indicates otherwise. Unless, y’know, Max is evil and has been all along, in which case it would be fully in keeping with his character to fake a friendship with Max Caster & co. only to betray him while simultaneously trying to make himself seem totally innocent. I also wonder if Roddy Strong and the Kingdom might secretly be the ones under the masks, laying a trap for their “best friend” Adam Cole when he returns from injury. I’m sure there have been clues that someone more observant and insightful than me could use to puzzle out who’s under the masks, but I don’t feel like it’s necessary. Regardless of where this is all going and who’s behind it, the mystery and the intrigue surrounding what exactly is going on has been a great wrinkle to the MJF/Jay White feud, far more effective than Switchblade stealing and then maintaining control over the title belt itself.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

Nothing offensively bad this week – squash matches are not ideal on a weekly basis, but the ones we got here were nothing to complain about. No overhyped announcements or pointless gimmick matches that don’t work at all this week.

Parting Shots

• Nothing really to say about this past week’s Collision, which I said I wasn’t necessarily going to talk about each week but, y’know, I am still watching the show so I may as well say something about it when I have something. The most notable development this week was Keith Lee challenging Samoa Joe to a title match, though, so…that’s already been covered. AR Fox vs. Swerve Strickland was also pretty good.
• The Outrunners are a lot of fun as a jobber tag team. Their gimmick is so incredibly goofy that they can’t really be taken seriously, but they fully commit to the bit so it’s hilarious to watch them flex and preen despite obviously losing all the time.
• Hey, Red Velvet is back! And she…lost to Julia Hart. So that’s a thing that happened.
• I’ll admit, I have no idea who Mariah May is, but it will be very interesting to see what AEW does with her after focusing on her borderline obsession with Toni Storm in her intro promo. I know Storm already has Luther as her…butler, I guess? But what Hollywood starlet is complete without an adoring (possibly stalkerish) following? It would be cool if they started off as partners with Storm using May as a sort of human shield while May grows more and more obsessive, only for Storm to dump her or May to turn on her idol to make a name for herself. There’s definitely a modern Trish Stratus/Mickie James parallel if they want to go that route. Just uh, be careful about any…hand gestures if they ever face off on pay-per-view.

That’s it for another week – I feel like this was a solid episode of Dynamite that maybe needed a few more significant developments with Full Gear so close at hand, but I suspect AEW will shore up the booking for that show next week. Speaking of next week’s show, that will be my last review for a while – I’m still planning on doing my regular end of year/beginning of year video game lists, and I may have time to do another “Pro Wrestling Year in Review” article, but that is all I’m planning on writing until the new year at least. So if you’ve ever rolled your eyes at my pleas to come back next week, please don’t do that this week because I really do hope everyone will join me once again for more Chair Shots…for the final time in 2023!