Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Retirement Announcement Dynamite

Writing intros is hard. Every week I try to make it seem like each Dynamite episode is unique and special somehow, but really they’re all pretty much the same unless they happen to be right before or right after a pay-per-view. Which this week’s episode isn’t. Plus, there wasn’t even a title match or anything unique on this show. I mean, look at the graphic above (assuming I remembered to put in the correct one, I dunno, I’m not a big details guy) – does it look like there’s a lot going on this week? Four announced matches, another silent film to take place during a commercial break, an interview with someone who’s barely even a character on the show and his mom who’s only been referenced in a couple promos, and an appearance from one of the older members of the roster. (Wonder what he had to say? What’s that? The title of this review already sort of spoils it? Sick!) So okay, the setup for this week’s show wasn’t anything special or even particularly promising. But that doesn’t automatically mean it was a bad episode, right? Let’s take a look at all the best and worst moments from this week’s Dynamite which aired live from Houston –er, Rosenberg, TX.

Best Match of the Night

Sometimes I want to shake things up by picking a match I liked that maybe wasn’t technically better than something else on the show, just so I don’t feel like I’m being too predictable. Sadly, there were four proper matches on the show this week and one of them was a battle royal, so if you’ve read anything I’ve written about wrestling (or just have decent taste in wrestling matches) you probably know what’s coming. That’s right, best match of the night honors go to the Dynamite Doze…nope, can’t even finish that sentence, battle royals suck, we all know it.

There might not have been a diamond ring on the line, but Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida was a good match with relatively little drama about the outcome and fairly low stakes. (I mean, it was technically an eliminator match, meaning Sakura would earn a title shot with a victory over the champ, but even if they had a title match at some point in the future, we all know Sakura isn’t winning the championship.) Probably the biggest selling point here was that it was teacher vs. student as Shida once studied under Sakura early in her career. I felt like they did enough of the “these two know each other so well” to sell that story even though the match wasn’t just a million counters because neither wrestler could pull out something new to surprise the other. Sakura blocked the Katana, Shida (mostly) avoided a moonsault, and Sakura managed to hit what could probably best be described as a jackknife Tiger Driver for a close two. About the only knock on this match was that it was kind of short, but that kind of comes with the territory with women’s matches in AEW these days. To be fair, though, this match wasn’t backed up by a significant storyline, so it made sense to keep it short to save time for other developments on the show. But Sakura and Shida did a good job with the time they were given, Shida picked up a relatively easy win to bolster her credentials as champ, and Tony Khan got to tick off the box marked “have exactly one women’s match” on his weekly Dynamite to-do list.

The opener between Penta and Jay White was another match with nothing on the line and little to no drama about who would win that managed to over-deliver. White is the #1 contender for the world title and is currently carrying around the championship belt, so he absolutely wasn’t losing to the former International Champion…’s brother. With that said, this was a perfect opportunity to just throw two guys whose styles complement each other into a match and let them do what they do to kick off the show. A particular spot I loved, entirely unrelated to the high-octane style both men are capable of, was when they started trading chops and White was clearly getting the worst of the exchange, so Penta pulled his (maybe padded?) shirt off and invited White to chop him again, which seemed to have no greater effect. Hilarious and sold Penta’s toughness perfectly. Now, should Jay White have stood there like a goober while Penta slowly removed one of his gloves and flipped it to Alex Abrahantes on the outside preceding the chops spot? No, that was weird and nonsensical. And of course the outside interference that contributed to the finish was not ideal either, but that is to be expected from a heel faction like Bullet Club Gold. White has made himself into a championship contender through the exact kind of chicanery mixed with some solid wrestling skill that we saw here, so in that sense this match served as a microcosm of his recent run in AEW. Penta isn’t really hurt by losing to a legit championship contender, considering he’s mainly a tag/trios guy anyway, and he was clearly chosen to be in the opener precisely because people love his wrestling style regardless of how often he loses. This match kicked off the show in style and with the main event being a snoozer of a multi-man match that only two men had the remotest chance of winning, White vs. Penta was a strong contender for overall match of the night.

But of course it wasn’t because this card featured Kenny Omega vs. Kyle Fletcher in the midcard. I feel like I’ve mentioned it a bunch of times recently, but Kyle Fletcher is pretty darn good at this whole wrestling thing. Oh, and I guess Kenny Omega is pretty decent too. The story here was fairly simple: Fletcher wanted to prove to himself and everyone else that he’s capable of winning on his own, while Kenny relishes his status as a measuring stick in AEW. Don Callis sat in on commentary and speculated that Fletcher was motivated by his pre-match offer that he might consider allowing him to join the Family if he won, but I feel like that only made it clearer that he wouldn’t win. I mean, Aussie Open could join the Don Callis Family when Mark Davis returns from injury, but that’s an awful lot of long-term planning for a faction that has very little purpose already. They beat Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho (individually), and now they’ve recruited Will Hobbs (which is what I’m calling him now because Callis himself did) who apparently also has a personal beef with Jericho. Like, how many people can they possibly find who have been personally affronted by Omega and Jericho? Are they going to pretend that Callis has some sort of pre-existing relationship with someone else over which he could start a blood feud by betraying them? I’m just saying it’s highly possible that the Family will have dissolved or become effectively irrelevant by the time Fletcher’s tag partner returns, so no need to hitch his wagon to an already sick horse. Anyway, slightly pointless setup aside, this match was an absolute banger as Omega and Fletcher threw (almost) everything they had at each other. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this turned into a Jon Moxley-Wheeler Yuta situation wherein the first match is relatively uncompetitive but the rematch just a short time later sees the loser come back to prove how far he’s come by pushing the more experienced competitor to his limit. Even if we never get that rematch, however, this match stood out from the pack of standard TV matches. Fletcher maintained control of the match for a good portion of its runtime, and the fact that Omega, who has no shortage of moves that he can use to finish a match, needed to use the One-Winged Angel to put Fletcher away should be a feather in the younger man’s cap. The physicality, intensity, and athleticism of this match was undeniable and pushed its quality above the remainder of the card.

Best Moment of the Night

I think we’re nearing the limits of Wardlow squashing people to look like a monster, so it was a welcome development that after taking out Ryan Nemeth with a single powerbomb, he wordlessly called out MJF by revealing those initials written on his wrist tape. Tony Schiavone tried to get him to clarify, but the big man just shoulder-checked him on his way out of the ring. Keeping Wardlow’s presentation simple and having him target a man who wronged him on his way to the top makes all the sense in the world, and this segment succeeded for that exact reason. It was simple, got the point across, and didn’t overstay its welcome or ask Wardlow to do anything outside of his wheelhouse.

Easily the best non-wrestling segment of the night was Sting announcing that he’s planning to retire after one final match at Revolution 2024. The Icon ran down the most important moments from his career, name-checking the likes of Lex Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan (whose name rightly drew boos from the crowd), and Ric Flair. The crowd also made itself known when Sting referred to the venue being in Houston, which they were quick to correct him to Rosenberg. Sting explained that he understood why so many of his peers have struggled to remain retired but he only came back after his own 2015 retirement because he wanted to go out on his own terms, which he feels like he can now do. Hopefully that’s true and he doesn’t pull a Flair by continuing to come back and watering down his legacy. There’s no indication of who his final opponent might be yet, though Darby Allin would be a logical choice, but he did confirm that Revolution will be the site of his farewell match. AEW has plenty of time to build to the match (Revolution is traditionally in March) and decide on who should get the honor of working that final match against him. This promo could easily have dragged on or gotten too far into the weeds of Sting’s long history, but the Stinger kept things moving along well and didn’t overstay his welcome. While there is still plenty to be determined about Sting’s retirement match, this segment did a good job of planting the seeds of a monumental development that is still to come.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

What the heck was up with Lance Archer squashing some random dude who initially looked like a knockoff Nick Jackson? At first I thought he was actually fighting one half of the Young Bucks or that maybe AEW was building him up to be a legit threat in the Dynamite Dozen battle royal later in the night, but then…he just never entered that match. Usually AEW heats up the Murderhawk Monster so that he can be easily defeated by someone higher on the card, but nothing of the sort happened nor was anything promised for Friday/Saturday/next Wednesday. I’m willing to wait and see where the company goes with this, but it seemed entirely pointless for the time being.

Parting Shots

  • This is not a drill. Danhausen is returning to AEW. The video announcing his return first appeared on Collision (unless it was on Rampage first but does anybody still watch that show?) but it was good to see it repeated on the main show. Love that Danhausen…or be cursed!
  • Speaking of Collision, Keith Lee made an appearance this week! Can he please be booked more consistently now? Please, Tony Khan?
  • Unless Nick Wayne is like Jim Carrey, I’m pretty sure he legitimately broke a tooth on live television. Maybe Britt Baker has some room in her schedule to get it examined…or maybe Danhausen can add the remainder of it to his jar of teeth.

That’s it for another week – this show definitely delivered beyond my expectations, but my expectations were quite low given the match card and the general lack of stakes at this point with Full Gear almost a month away. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope to see you all back here next time for more Chair Shots!