Big Swole will make her return to AEW Dynamite Wednesday in a match against Serena Deeb.
Swole hasn’t been in action since her Tooth and Nail win over Britt Baker at September’s All Out, but does have a Dark match set for Tuesday against Skyler Moore. If she wins, she’ll go into Wednesday on a six-match winning streak.
After making her debut in early-September against NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa on Dynamite and signing a contract shortly thereafter, Deeb is coming off a September 10th Dark win over KiLynn King.
This Wednesday’s show is centered around the 30th anniversary celebration for Chris Jericho’s wrestling career.
The card announced thus far:
TNT Champion Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Cody in a dog collar match
FTW Champion Brian Cage vs. Will Hobbs
Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Hybrid2 in a 20-minute “Brush With Greatness” challenge
The highlight of this week’s Being The Elite was the introduction of the Being The Elite Championship, a new title that will be defended on the show in wrestling matches and competitions.
Its debut came as Matt and Nick Jackson were hanging out in their dressing room.
Actually, we never saw Nick. Counting last week’s BTE and Dynamite, this is the third straight show where they have weirdly pretended that Nick was there when he clearly was not.
Brandon Cutler entered and introduced a new title belt he had made, the BTE World Championship. Cutler said that the title has to be defended not just in wrestling matches but in any type of competition. He left the belt with Matt and Nick to decide how the first champion will be crowned.
Other highlights from this week’s show included:
Colt Cabana and Matt Sydal ran into each other backstage. Cabana still looked like Michael Nakazawa after his botched surgery. Sydal then ran into the real Nakazawa. They threatened each other ahead of their match on AEW Dark this week. Nakazawa threatened to use his underpants as a Mr. Socko.
John Silver and Alan Angels tried to recruit Sammy Guevara to Dark Order. Guevara said Silver was cool and he might have joined if Angles wasn’t there.
Tay Conti was hanging out with Jurassic Express at the bar. Luchasaurus was hitting on her. Anna Jay entered and took Conti away and told Luchasaurus to find someone his own age.
Alex Abrahantes introduced the Miphone 2. This included a jab at WWE for their twitch policy. Vickie Guerrero and Diamante appeared in the Miphone commercial.
Dark Order were bench pressing. Silver wanted to drink 10’s breast milk. Anna Jay entered and out-lifted everyone. Evil Uno gave a shout out to Big E.
We saw screenshots of Matt Jackson texting with Tony Khan. Matt said he sent Khan money through PayPal to pay The Bucks’ fines ahead of time because things are about to get crazy. Matt wrote that it’s time to go back to the old days. They showed footage of Matt and Nick being heels in PWG.
They replayed the angle from Dynamite where Kenny Omega was announced for the Full Gear tournament and Hangman Page was not.
Page confronted Cutler. He said he knows he’s a piece of s— but so are Matt and Nick. Page told Cutler that he’s a prop for them and they use him. Page said Cutler can find out from him or find out the hard way.
The show closed with Page asking Cutler to come with him. Cutler agreed, so they seem to be teasing a new alliance with just those two guys.
AEW announced their full 11-match lineup for Tuesday’s edition of Dark which will feature some tuneup matches for Dynamite and some returns.
In one featured match, the Lucha Bros will return to action against Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss. The Bros are 2-1 in September with a pair of Dark wins and a Dynamite loss to Jurassic Express. Janela and Kiss are coming off a loss to Miro and Kip Sabian two weeks ago on Dynamite.
Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico) will prepare for their Dynamite debut as a team against Chris Jericho and Jake Hager with a match against Anthony Bowens and Lee Johnson. The team is 3-0 since being paired up in early July.
Big Swole will return to action for the first time since her Tooth and Nail match against Britt Baker at All Out when she faces Skyler Moore. As a singles wrestler, Swole has won her last five matches while Moore is looking for her first AEW win of any kind.
The war between the Dark Order and the Nightmare Family will continue as QT Marshall will face John “4” Silver in singles action. Marshall is coming off an early-September loss to Colt Cabana while this will be Silver’s first AEW singles match.
Will Hobbs will prepare for Wednesday’s FTW title opportunity against Brian Cage when he faces RYZIN.
Also on the card:
Angelico vs. Shawn Dean
Eddie Kingston vs. M’Badu
Matt Sydal vs. Michael Nakazawa
Brandi Rhodes vs. Kenzie Paige
Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Cezar Bononi and David Ali
Next up for FTR’s “A Brush With Greatness” challenge series are the Hybrid2 as they will get their first tag team title opportunity this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.
The champions debuted the concept on last Wednesday’s show, defeating former champions SCU who had to win by pin or submission within 20 minutes in order to win the titles. If not, FTR retained. FTR got the win when manager Tully Blanchard held down Scorpio Sky’s leg as Cash Wheeler pinned him.
Angelico and Jack Evans have won their last two and three of their last four dating back to March as they were off for nearly all spring and summer due to the pandemic.
This Wednesday’s show will feature the 30th anniversary celebration for Chris Jericho’s career, a TNT Championship dog collar match between Mr. Brodie Lee and Cody, FTW Champion Brian Cage vs. Will Hobbs, and Jericho teaming with Jake Hager against Luther and Serpentico.
A dog collar match for the TNT Championship is on for next week’s Dynamite.
Cody responded to Mr. Brodie Lee in an in-ring interview on last night’s show. The two then had a massive pull-apart.
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley successfully defended his title in the main event of the show, defeating The Butcher.
FTR retained their AEW World Tag Team titles in the first title match of the evening, using underhanded tactics to defeat the SCU duo of Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky.
Dr. Britt Baker made her in-ring return on Dynamite, defeating Red Velvet.
Ricky Starks came up short in the show’s opener, as Darby Allin was able to walk away with a victory.
After losing to Lee in a TNT Championship match last week, Orange Cassidy got some measure of revenge by defeating 10 from The Dark Order.
For more of what you missed, including Chris Jericho vs. Isiah Kassidy, scroll down.
Cody did his first promo since his return to AEW, accepting TNT Champion Mr. Brodie Lee’s challenge for a dog collar match for next week’s live Dynamite.
On Wednesday’s show, the former and inaugural TNT champion initially told Dasha Fuentes “no” and walked away, but came back into the ring and said, “No as in no regrets” and emphatically accepted in babyface fashion. This brought out Lee and the two got in a long pull-apart brawl that saw the locker room empty out to separate them.
That pull-apart included Brandi Rhodes who did a flip off the top rope onto the Dark Order on the outside of the ring which caused Anna Jay and she to then also be pulled apart.
Lee defeated Rhodes in minutes for the TNT title on Dynamite, putting Cody out of action in an injury angle as he filmed a show for TNT.
Other announced matches:
As part of the Chris Jericho 30th anniversary celebration, Le Champion will team with Inner Circle stablemate Jake Hager against the undefeated team of Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico). The teams got in a brawl after Jericho’s win over Isiah Kassidy on this week’s Dynamite.
FTW Champion Brian Cage will defend the title against Will Hobbs. The two brawled after Hobbs came out to get rid of Cage when he tried to interfere in Wednesday’s Ricky Starks-Darby Allin match.
November’s Full Gear pay-per-view has its first match: the finals of an eight-man tournament to determine the next no. 1 contender for the AEW World title.
The single elimination tournament was announced on Wednesday’s Dynamite along with the first three competitors: Kenny Omega, Jungle Boy and Ray Fenix. It’s assumed the tournament will play out solely on Dynamite.
Omega’s former partner Hangman Page was on commentary during the announcement and was taken aback by Omega’s inclusion, walking away from the broadcast booth after it was announced.
The next world title match is scheduled for AEW’s first anniversary show on the Wednesday, October 14th Dynamite featuring champion Jon Moxley vs. current no. 1 contender Lance Archer.
The second-ever Full Gear is set for Saturday, November 7th and will likely be at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Last year’s event was held in Baltimore, Maryland, and was co-headlined by Moxley vs. Omega in a lights out match and then-World champion Chris Jericho vs. Cody.
The AEW World Tag Team Championships will be on the line tonight on Dynamite.
Champions FTR will defend against the SCU duo of Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian in a 20-minute time limit “Brush With Greatness” match.
The Inner Circle’s Chris Jericho will be in action against Private Party’s Isiah Kassidy.
Orange Cassidy will face Preston “10” Vance of The Dark Order. Cassidy faced Dark Order leader Mr. Brodie Lee for the TNT title on last week’s Dynamite in a losing effort. A week after his return to Dynamite, Cody will respond to Lee’s challenge to a dog collar match for the TNT Championship.
Ricky Starks from Team Taz will face Darby Allin.
Dr. Britt Baker will be in action for the first time since All Out.
A week after retaining the AEW World title against Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley is set for tonight’s show. He will be in action against an opponent of Kingston’s choosing.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Jim Ross, Excalibur and Taz were the announce team. They said that Tony Schiavone was trying to get a word with FTR backstage.
A video package aired highlighting the Allin/Starks feud.
A promo aired from Darby Allin’s compound where one of his friends promised that Allin would get revenge on Starks.
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Darby Allin defeated Ricky Starks
They worked this like a grudge match for sure. The strikes were snug and the work was good.
Allin got some shine early with strikes, a suplex on the apron and a suicide dive.
Brian Cage came out to distract Allin. Will Hobbs came out to take care of Cage and the two brawled to the back. Starks was able to use the distraction to cut off Allin and flip the momentum.
Allin made a comeback and hit a code red. They traded strikes. Allin hit a backpack stunner. He teased a Coffin Drop off the second rope but Starks caught him with a spear for a two count.
Starks went for an avalanche finisher. Allin kicked him off and hit a Coffin Drop for the pin.
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The announcers previewed the card. They announced that Moxley vs. the opponent of Kingston’s choosing would be for the AEW World title.
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Cody came to the ring for a promo. They cut to commercial before he began speaking.
After the break, Dasha Gonzalez was in the ring to interview Cody. She asked about the status of Cody’s injury.
Cody said Al Snow once told him you always wrestle hurt, but you should never wrestle injured. Cody said his injury is more than physical.
Cody said it hurt to lose his TNT title in three minutes. While he was off, he got the call from Hollywood to appear on another show.
Cody said he heard people talking while he was away, talking about being the future and the ace. He said only three people have the right to speak of themselves in that way now: Hikaru Shida, Jon Moxley and Brodie Lee.
Dasha asked Cody what his answer was to Brodie Lee. Cody said as an EVP, his answer to Lee is no. He left the ring.
Cody came back to the ring. He said no, as in no regrets, no holding back, next week, he accepts.
Brodie Lee came to the ring. The locker room emptied and tried to hold the two apart.
Brandi Rhodes ran in and hit a flip dive off the post onto Dark Order. Anna Jay attacked Brandi. Nyla Rose and KiLynn King jumped the rail and brawled.
The pull-apart in the ring re-started. Lee retreated to the stage and held the TNT title aloft.
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Schiavone was backstage with FTR and Tully Blanchard.
Cash said they did Best Friends a favor last week by refusing their challenge. He called Best Friends glorified backyard wrestlers and participation trophy guys. He said SCU are different and deserving of a shot.
Schiavone asked Dax about The Young Bucks. Dax referenced Dave Meltzer and said that if stars from Dave constitute a title match, maybe The Bucks could get a match at some point.
Matt Jackson entered and hit a superkick to Tony. Nick was not there but they acted like he was just off-camera.
Dax and Cash called Matt out for kicking Schiavone instead of them.
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Dasha was with SCU. They promised to win the titles tonight, then made their way to the curtain.
Shawn Spears was waiting for SCU at the curtain and mockingly wished them luck.
The Tag title match is next.
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Hangman Page joined the commentary desk.
AEW World Tag Team Championship match: FTR (w/Tully Blanchard) defeated SCU (Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian w/Christopher Daniels) to retain the titles
This was excellent.
Dax and Kaz began, trading holds. Kaz hit a lariat and tagged Sky. Sky hit a dropkick for a one count. Cash blind-tagged in and faced off with Sky.
Sky and Cash did a series of drop-downs and leapfrogs. Cash feigned a trip from Daniels on the floor and the ref ejected Daniels.
Dax and Cash had some miscommunication and ended up on the outside. Kazarian missed a baseball slide but Sky hit a tope con giro to both members of FTR.
FTR cut Sky off with a lariat on the outside before throwing him back in. FTR were in control, working over Sky before an ad break.
Cash missed a charge into the corner. Dax tagged in. Cash took the ref. Sky cradled Dax but the ref was tied up and Sky only got a two count.
Kazarian tagged in and hit a series of leg lariats on Dax. He fought off an interfering Cash and sent him into Dax. Cash tagged in and ate a northern lights suplex and a fisherman’s suplex for a pair of two counts at the ten minute call.
Cash hit a dropkick on Kazarian into a sunset flip by Dax for a two count. Kazarian hit a German on Dax. Sky tagged in and used a high stack on a cover for a two count.
SCU tried a double pin on a sunset flip from Kaz and a high cross from Sky but only got two. Sky hit Dax with a cutter for a two count. Dax powerbombed Kazarian. Cash hit a dragon suplex for a near fall.
Kazarian crotched Cash on the top rope and went for a superplex. Dax interfered. Kazarian countered a doomsday device attempt with a powerslam.
Sky used a series of cradles for three near falls on Cash. Blanchard interfered by grabbing Cash’s hands to block a schoolboy.
For the finish, Sky tried to suplex Cash into the ring as Cash stood on the apron. Tully tripped Sky and held his foot. Cash covered Sky for the pin.
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They announced an eight-man tournament for an AEW World title shot with the finals at Full Gear. Rey Fenix, Jungle Boy and Kenny Omega were announced for the tournament.
Page left the commentary table in a huff after Omega was announced for the tournament, as I guess he is still hoping to get back with Omega as a tag team.
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Chris Jericho (w/The Inner Circle) defeated Isiah Kassidy (w/Marq Quen & Matt Hardy)
Jericho gave Kassidy almost the entire match.
Kassidy got the upper hand right away and Jericho bumped all over the place for him. Kassidy hit a series of strikes and used a magistral cradle for a two count.
Jericho took a slingshot over the top to the floor. Kassidy teased a dive but Jericho stepped away. Jericho got sent over the barricade where he went at it with Luther. Luther hit a right hand and clotheslined Jericho back over the barricade.
Kassidy hit a tornillo and a swanton bomb for a near fall. Jericho fired back with right hands and took control of the match before a commercial.
Kassidy came back and crotched Jericho on the second turnbuckle. Kassidy hit a cutter for a two count. Kassidy avoided a springboard dropkick and hit a springboard stunner for a near fall.
Kassidy got his knees up on a lionsault, then hit his own lionsault for two. Kassidy hit a codebreaker for another near fall.
Kassidy went for a springboard attack but jumped into a Judas Effect. Jericho then pinned Kassidy.
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Inner Circle jumped in to attack Kassidy after the match. Hardy saved with a chair and cleared the ring.
Jericho and Hager brawled with Luther and Serpentico after the match.
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Miro and Kip Sabian were at an arcade and an ax throwing place for Sabian’s bachelor party. Miro was upset because he wanted Sabian to have a Rumspringa bachelor party but he can’t because of the pandemic.
Billy Mitchell offered to help Miro throw Kip Sabian a great bachelor party. Apparently Mitchell is a legendary arcade game player.
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Dasha was with Best Friends backstage. FTR entered. They said there’s a spot on the card for Best Friends as a comedy relief act, but they’re top guys.
Orange Cassidy called FTR weenies.
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Orange Cassidy (w/Best Friends) defeated 10 (w/Colt Cabana, John Silver & Alan Angels)
10 mocked Cassidy’s pockets spot.
10 hit a spinebuster and a pump kick before sending him into the barricade. Dark Order mocked the Best Friends hug spot, but that allowed Cassidy to hit a dive off the post.
Cassidy hit Orange Punch and a Beach Break for the pin.
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MJF and Wardlow brought Jericho a gift in the Inner Circle’s dressing room. MJF had jackets for everyone but Sammy Guevara.
MJF swore on his mother’s life that he didn’t leave Sammy out intentionally. MJF said he was just there to congratulate Jericho on his win.
Jericho asked MJF if he wanted to join the Inner Circle. MJF asked if Jericho wanted him to join. They went back and forth on the same point for a while.
MJF and Wardlow left. Guevara called MJF a loser, but Jericho said perhaps he’s not a loser.
I like whatever this slow burn thing they’re doing with Jericho and MJF is.
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Dr. Britt Baker (w/Reba) defeated Red Velvet
This was a little bit more than a squash as Velvet got some early offense. Both ladies had a good showing.
Velvet hit a leg lariat and a bulldog for a two count. Baker used a hammerlock to set up a clothesline. Baker hit a butterfly suplex and some taunting kicks.
Baker used a misdirection spot to set up a slingblade. Baker hit a neckbreaker and a curb stomp for the pin.
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Baker used Lockjaw after the match.
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Jericho & Hager vs. Luther & Serpentico, Will Hobbs vs. Brian Cage for the FTW Championship, Brodie Lee vs. Cody for the TNT title in a dog collar match were announced for next week.
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Kingston came to the ring with Penta El Zero M, Rey Fenix and referee Bryce Remsburg before a commercial break.
Kingston cut a promo. He said he fought Moxley for the title last week. Moxley put him in a bulldog choke but Kingston never tapped out.
Kingston said Moxley went to Tony Khan, or TK as the kiss-asses call him, and got an open contract for this week.
Kingston said before he reveals Moxley’s opponent he had to ask Remsburg why he called for the bell last week. Remsburg said they go way back and are friendly but when they’re at work, it’s Remsburg’s job to protect Kingston from himself.
Penta, Fenix and Kingston began to menace Remsburg. Moxley’s music hit and he ran in for the save with a barbed wire bat.
Kingston called for Moxley’s music to be cut and introduced Mox’s opponent, The Butcher.
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AEW World Championship match: Jon Moxley defeated The Butcher to retain the title
These guys were in a tough spot. There’s just not a lot Butcher can do.
The Butcher dominated the first part of the match with lots of clubbing, clobbering and squeezing. He went after Moxley’s left leg.
Moxley made a comeback and got a cross armbreaker. Butcher slid to a single-leg crab, then hit some punches from Mox’s guard.
Butcher hit a powerslam for a two count before going back to the single-leg crab. Moxley blocked a powerslam. Butcher blocked a Paradigm Shift. Butcher tried for a stretch muffler but couldn’t quite figure out how to put it on.
Moxley rolled outside. Butcher missed a charge and got sent into the barricade. Back inside, they traded strikes. Butcher hit something resembling a crossbody for a two count.
Butcher hit a uranage and a legdrop for a near fall. Moxley hit a superplex but Butcher grabbed his leg on landing. Moxley fought off another crab attempt.
Moxley hit a piledriver for a two count. Butcher blocked another superplex and hit a crossbody off the second rope for a two count.
Moxley ducked a lariat and hit a Paradigm Shift. He followed up with a bulldog choke and Butcher tapped.
This week’s edition of AEW Dark was billed as having a double main event: Nyla Rose vs. Raché Chanel followed by the Natural Nightmares vs. John “4” Silver and Colt Cabana of the Dark Order.
The Big Takeaways:
The Dark Order continue to struggle to pick up wins as they went 0-2 on this week’s show and showed major dissension in the main event. Shawn Spears staring down Scorpio Sky, Brandi Rhodes confronting Anna Jay, and Brandon Cutler accepting a challenge from Peter Avalon were the show’s other major story developments.
Show Recap:
Excalibur and Taz were tonight’s commentary team. They were joined by Shawn Spears for the opener, who was then replaced by Ricky Starks for the rest of the show. Spears was awkward and unconvincing like he was simply playing the role of a bad guy, but Starks continued to naturally play off well with his Team Taz leader.
Spears said that after their confrontation on the Late Night Dynamite special, scouting Sky was the reason for him joining commentary. Sky has quietly been no. 5 in the AEW men’s singles rankings for nearly two months.
SCU controlled the early portion. Rosas regained advantage with a missile dropkick and he and RYZIN took turns distracting the referee and performing illegal moves. Kazarian escaped for the hot tag to Sky and after a slingshot cutter, SCU performed their assisted knee strike for the win.
Post-match, Spears sarcastically clapped from the commentary desk. He and Sky exchanged glances as SCU made their way to the back.
– Backstage, 4 (Silver) of the Dark Order was asked how he felt about teaming with Cabana. He complained to Evil Uno about having to team with him as Mr. Brodie Lee has had problems with him. After a pep talk, Cabana arrived but wasn’t clued into the team’s issues.
– Starks then joined the commentary team.
Penelope Ford (w/ Kip Sabian) defeated Alex Gracia
This was Gracia’s AEW debut and despite being only two years into her career, she’s well-traveled, making stops in Japan’s STARDOM as well as CMLL. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the most impressive debut as this quick match was mostly sluggish and indecisive.
A running dropkick sent Ford to the outside, but Ford took advantage when they re-entered the ring. A fireman’s carry lungblower from Ford got two, and a fisherman’s suplex got three.
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) defeated M’Badu & BSHP King
M’Badu showed great athleticism in this one. Best Friends controlled the early goings after a double shoulder tackle. They isolated King in the corner and beat him down with frequent tags. King escaped after a powerslam, but missed a swanton bomb.
Trent hit a Saito suplex on M’Badu before hitting a swinging DDT out of the corner. Taylor tagged in and Best Friends hit Soul Food into a half-and-half suplex followed by a double stomp into Crunchy to pick up the win.
– Brandon Cutler addressed Peter Avalon. Neither of them were happy with their double countout draw from a couple weeks ago, so they will continue to fight until there is a victor. I know that being a nerd is Cutler’s gimmick, but he sounded rather flimsy in this promo.
Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (w/ Marko Stunt) defeated Dark Order (5 and 10)
This was a very solid back-and-forth tag match. 5 (Alan Angels) and 10 (Preston Vance) are both talented wrestlers; they just need wins. Evil Uno and Anna Jay came out for the entrance. Luchasaurus and 5 started out, presenting a humorous image of their massive height difference. Luchasaurus roared and 5 fled to tag in 10. He and Luchasaurus wrestled around before the latter nailed an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.
Jungle Boy and 5 tagged in and performed some back-and-forth technical wrestling. Luchasaurus tagged back in and hit a huge buckle bomb followed by Jungle Boy’s assisted flipping senton, but 5 took advantage by sweeping out Jungle Boy’s legs after he had tagged in 10.
Dark Order continued to attack Jungle Boy. He eventually made a comeback with a rebound lariat, followed by the hot tag to Luchasaurus. Luchasaurus ran wild with strikes, concluding with the Tail Whip heel kick and a fireman’s carry slam.
Luchasaurus and 10 fought outside, but the former was sent into the ring post which allowed the Dark Order to take advantage once again. 5 hit a frog splash for a super close near fall as they teased the major upset. Dark Order missed a double team move on Jungle Boy which allowed Luchasaurus to take control with a chokeslam. An assisted cutter followed to give Jurassic Express the win.
– Serpentico & Luther, known as Chaos Project, cut a completely inscrutable promo. They take on Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison later on in the show and they have been praying for blood.
Gunn Club (Billy & Austin Gunn) defeated Cezar Bononi & Shawn Dean
This match was rough going; Austin’s green, Billy’s old, and Bononi still just hasn’t developed as a wrestler. This was Bononi’s AEW debut; he’s a former WWE developmental wrestler in NXT. He’s also huge, as he was clearly taller than Billy, and pretty shredded to boot.
After Austin and Dean performed some technical wrestling at the bell, the two giants tagged in. They fought back and forth for a moment, but Dean distracted Billy and Bononi took advantage with a big boot. After a long heat segment, Billy hit a spinning slam and reached Austin for the tag. He ran wild with offense, concluding it with a DDT for two. Billy hit the Fameasser on Dean to pick up the victory.
– QT Marshall, Dustin Rhodes, and Brandi Rhodes were backstage. Marshall said that the Dark Order is only strong in numbers while Brandi said Anna Jay isn’t here tonight (which didn’t make sense considering Jay joined the other Dark Order tag team for their entrance earlier and then both women participated in an angle in the very next segment). Dustin promoted their upcoming main event against 4 and Colt Cabana.
Tay Conti defeated Red Velvet
Conti, another former NXT talent, picked up her first AEW singles win in this short showcase. She hit a pump kick in the early going which got two and then laid in ground and pound. Velvet fought back with clotheslines, a dropkick, and double knees to the back for two. Conti countered strikes into Kawada kicks and locked on a leg-assisted choke for the submission win.
Post-match, Anna Jay hit her Dangerous Jay kick on Velvet, but Brandi ran out to make the save. She checked on Velvet as Conti and Jay fled, appearing to set up a tag match.
Chaos Project (Serpentico & Luther) defeated Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison
Serpentico attacked with his streamer gimmick before the bell. Unfortunately, he seemed to get tangled in it and had to wrestle the first minute or so completely covered in streamers. Back in the ring, Garrison and Pillman hit power moves on Serpentico, but Luther allowed Chaos Project to take advantage with a strong right hand.
Chaos Project’s offense is based around Luther literally throwing Serpentico into opponents. They beat down Pillman, but a crossbody allowed him to tag in Garrison. A lariat and a facebuster almost gave Garrison the win, but Luther broke it up. Serpentico avoided a double team and Chaos Project hit a doomsday meteora for the victory.
Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) defeated Raché Chanel
This was a very brief squash. Rose would have gotten the win with a double-hand chokeslam, but she picked Chanel up during the cover. Chanel fought back with a dropkick and a running knee, but Rose hit a uranage. Chanel attempted a last gasp at offense, but Rose turned it into the Beast Bomb for three.
4 and Cabana had never appeared as a two-man tag team before this match. The Nightmares dominated early on before Marshall and Cabana exchanged words, allowing 4 to take advantage.
Marshall made a comeback with a backbreaker/flatliner combination, allowing him to reach Rhodes for the tag. He hit his signature offense, capped off with a powerslam for each of the Dark Order members. Cabana and 4 fled to the outside, but Rhodes took them out with a cannonball senton.
Marshall tagged in, but 4 held onto his leg which allowed Cabana to hit a strike and 4 to hit a gamengiri. They set up for a double team move, but there was miscommunication which led Marshall to hit the Diamond Cutter for the win.
Final Thoughts:
AEW Dark was a much more focused and streamlined show this week. Even though I feel like they could do even more to distill the show into its best aspects, there were fewer squashes and more of an emphasis on advancing storylines this week.
Excalibur works far better on commentary with Taz than Tony Schiavone did and the addition of Starks is a consistent highlight. Commentary used to be one of the lowlights of the show, but it was very enjoyable with the crew we had tonight. The two Dark Order matches were the best performances on the show.
Even after losing to Jon Moxley on last week’s Dynamite, Eddie Kingston isn’t quite finished with the AEW World Champion just yet.
Moxley will face an opponent of Kingston’s choosing on this week’s Dynamite in what is assumed to be a non-title match.
After the loss to Moxley, the Lucha Bros joined Kingston in a beatdown of the champion. Both Will Hobbs and Darby Allin ran out to help Moxley but Ricky Starks joined in and the heels stood tall to close the show.
Allin will face Starks on this week’s show, but neither Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix are booked as of yet.
In addition to Moxley vs. TBA and Allin vs. Starks, here’s the rest of the current lineup for this week’s taped show:
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) in a 20 minute challenge
Chris Jericho vs. Isiah Kassidy
Orange Cassidy vs. 10
Dr. Britt Baker in action
Cody responds to Mr. Brodie Lee’s dog collar match challenge
Cassidy challenged Dark Order’s Mr. Brodie Lee for the TNT Championship on last week’s Dynamite in a losing effort. After the match, Lee and the Dark Order looked to attack Cassidy, but a returning Cody made the save.
Lee then challenged Cody to a dog collar match. Cody will respond to the challenge on this week’s episode.
Here is the lineup for this week’s Dynamite:
FTR vs. SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a 20 minute challenge
In this week’s BTE cold open, Brandon Cutler took a call from Hangman Page. Page was checking on a video that he had asked Cutler to make featuring photos of Page with Matt and Nick.
While Cutler was on the phone, Tony Schiavone knocked on the door to interview Matt on Dynamite. This was the promo that aired on Dynamite where Matt destroyed Tony’s phone.
After Schiavone left, Matt destroyed Cutler’s computer, ruining the video that Cutler was putting together.
The open ran nearly six minutes, as Matt dropped elbows on the computer and hit it with superkicks.
Matt kept speaking to someone off-camera who we were supposed to believe was Nick, but it was pretty clear that Nick wasn’t there.
Other highlights from the episode included:
Matt and Nick went to another store in search of their action figures.
Evil Uno told Five to cut his hair because he keeps finding it in his underwear.
Stu Grayson was still looking to kill John Silver but Uno still didn’t want him to. Grayson tricked Uno into telling him to kill Silver. Grayson left but Anna Jay dragged him back to the Dark Order lair by his ear.
This week’s Speaking Spanglish was a telenovela. Ortiz confronted Dasha Gonzalez. Dasha said that their love was true. Jake Hager and Kip Sabian told Ortiz that Dasha is not who she says she is. Ortiz prayed to Thunder Rosa for help with Dasha. Rosa revealed Dasha to be Marko Stunt.
Cutler met with Matt Hardy. Hardy was concerned about Matt and Nick. Hardy offered to help Matt and Nick if he could.
Cutler asked Hardy how he was feeling. Hardy said his fall at All Out changed him and he feels more complete than ever.
Christopher Daniels cut a great promo. Daniels said that this has been the worst year we have ever lived through. He said his bad year started in October 2019. Daniels said he got attacked and injured and had to watch SCU win the Tag titles without him. Daniels said he hasn’t felt elite in a long time and has thought about retiring. Daniels fought back tears as he said that he wants to write his own ending to his story. He said he has a path to walk but he doesn’t know where it leads. He said this is not his best day, but it’s not his last day. Not yet.
Dark Order were in their lair. They were singing Cody’s entrance song. Mr. Brodie Lee entered and asked where Alex Reynolds was. Silver said that he was at his father’s bris. Lee opened his coat and flashed the group. Silver made a video call to Reynolds. Reynolds said he was at fencing camp. Lee flashed Reynolds. Jay again attacked Grayson.
We saw Cutler Cam footage from Dynamite.
Swole gave a Public Swole Announcement. She chastised slow drivers for driving in the fast lane.
Eddie Kingston cut a promo on Sour Patch Kids.
Best Friends and Orange Cassidy planned to kill Cutler by putting him in a microwave. Silver entered and tried to recruit all of them. They agreed to join Dark Order if Silver killed Cutler.
Silver attacked Cutler. Trent and Chuck were upset that Silver simply attacked Cutler and didn’t make it cute enough or give him sexual favors before he attacked. They helped Cutler to his feet and told him they would kill him in a cool way later.
After a five year run in NXT, Cezar Bononi will make his AEW debut this Tuesday on Dark.
The 34-year-old will team with Dark regular Shawn Dean against Billy and Austin Gunn. He spent five years in developmental with limited TV time before being released in April.
In another debut, STARDOM, SHIMMER and CMLL veteran Alex Gracia will make her AEW debut against Penelope Ford (w/Kip Sabian).
The show will also feature the return of both the former AEW Tag Team Champions and the former Women’s Champion.
Scorpio Sky will return to the SCU tag team ranks when he teams with Frankie Kazarian against Ray Rosas and Ryzin.
Former women’s champ Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero) will face Rache Chanel.
The Dark Order will be part of two different matches as John “4” Silver will team with Colt Cabana to face the Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall) with Brandi Rhodes going solo by their side. In another tag match, Jurassic Express (w/Marko Stunt) will take on 5 (Alan Angels) & 10 (Preston Vance).
Tay Conti returns to face Red Velvet, still looking for her first AEW win.
Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison will take on Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico).
The day after Lance Archer said he will be out for a few weeks due to a positive COVID-19 test, rising prospect Ben Carter tweeted Thursday that he has tested positive as well.
The 23-year-old didn’t explain how he got it or when, but said he feels fine other than losing some of his taste. His return is unknown.
Carter, a trainee of Seth Rollins and Marek Brave’s wrestling school, recently got praise for his debut match against Ricky Starks on Dark and wrestled twice on Tuesday, losing to Scorpio Sky on Late Night Dynamite and on Dark in a win over Lee Johnson.
Fightful and Spectrum Sports 360’s Jon Alba reported late Wednesday that several AEW wrestlers and talents tested positive for COVID-19 in the weeks following their September 9th tapings. The company has yet to make any public comment to either outlet about the report.
Archer tweeted Wednesday he got it from a family friend and would be out for two weeks. As of now, no one else from AEW has said they have tested positive.
Cody returned to AEW Dynamite last night after a month-long absence.
The returning Cody attacked The Dark Order in his first in-person appearance on the show since the Brodie Lee-led faction sent him out on a stretcher on the August 22 Dynamite.
Lee retained the TNT title in a match with Orange Cassidy before Cody’s return, then challenged Cody to a dog collar match.
In the show’s main event, Jon Moxley retained the AEW World title with a win over Eddie Kingston. Moxley used a bulldog choke to secure the victory, though Kingston never tapped out.
Miro made his AEW in-ring debut, teaming with Kip Sabian in a victory over Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss.
Hikaru Shida & Thunder Rosa teamed up to defeat Ivelisse & Diamante in a tag match.
Matt Hardy and Private Party had a promo battle to set up Jericho vs. Isiah Kassidy on next week’s Dynamite.
For more of what you missed, including Hangman Page vs. Evil Uno, scroll down.
