New number one contenders were crowned during tonight’s AEW Buy-In show.
Best Friends defeated Private Party during the pre-show prior to AEW Double or Nothing. Trent scored the win for his team after hitting the Strong Zero on Marq Quen. You can watch the match in full below:
With the win, Best Friends will be next to challenge current champions Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. The two will team with the rest of the Elite later tonight during Double or Nothing, facing Chris Jericho and the rest of the Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match. Both factions will be fighting inside the football stadium connected to Daily’s Place.
Hangman Page and Omega have been champions since January 21. However, Hangman Page has spent most of the last two months away from competition due to the spread of COVID-19. He and The Young Bucks made their return to AEW television this past Wednesday, aiding Matt Hardy and the rest of the Elite in their brawl against the Inner Circle.
Episode 204 of Being The Elite opened with a mystery person calling Kenny Omega via Zoom. The caller turned out to be Colt Cabana.
Cabana asked Omega if they could bury the hatchet. Colt said that he doesn’t need any heat or lawsuits with anyone in the wrestling business. The two called each other by their shoot names.
Omega said he sees a lot of himself in Cabana. Kenny also said that he was afraid of losing his starring spot on BTE to Cabana, much the way that he was supposed to be the star of his tag team with Hangman Page.
Their video call continued throughout the episode.
Other highlights included:
Matt Jackson faked an injury and bladed to avoid taking out the garbage at home.
Omega told Cabana about losing his spot in a school play to Willem Dafoe. Cabana said that Omega was opening up to him and making progress.
Last week’s reveal that Hangman Page was behind the recent attacks on Private Party was followed up on. Isiah Kassidy called Page. He issued a challenge to Page’s hired guns, Bonez and The Bear, to face Private Party in a backyard match on next week’s BTE.
Matt went to Nick Jackson’s house to meet up with Nick and Brandon Cutler. Matt explained that he “got color” in an accident at his house. Matt Hardy broke in to explain bleeding in wrestling.
Nick revealed that he and Papa Buck have been building a custom wrestling ring in his yard.
Omega said that he and Cabana are friends now. Omega laid out an angle for BTE. He said that he would book a storyline for BTE where Cabana swoops in and steals his spotlight in five months or on the next season of BTE.
Justin Roberts was again shown at home. He stared at the ceiling and remembered previous BTE appearances. This will pay off at some point, I suppose.
Page continued his video diary from living in the woods. He was drinking his own urine. A note appeared on the screen apologizing for the poor sound quality. In the note, Page explained that he made friends with a turtle in the woods. He then killed and ate the turtle.
Page also said he encountered a bald eagle in the woods as he opened his last bottle of whiskey. He said he had a thought that he should go home, but realized that would be wrong. He said he can’t infect anyone or get infected with coronavirus in the woods.
Page again reconsidered. He gave a long monologue explaining his conflicting feelings about whether or not he should go home. The episode ended without Page making a decision.
Three matches were announced tonight for Double or Nothing.
The AEW Women’s championship will be on the line, as champion Nyla Rose will face number one contender Hikaru Shida. It will be a no DQ, no countout match after Rose attacked Shida with a kendo stick backstage. Shida had defeated Kris Statlander, Britt Baker, and Penelope Ford in a fatal four way match tonight to become the number one contender.
A match between Britt Baker and Kris Statlander was also made tonight, stemming from what happened during the fatal four way women’s match. Baker had Statlander on the floor with her lockjaw submission. The announcers mentioned that Baker was more intent on taking out Statlander than actually winning the match.
The Buy-In pre show match will be a tag team match, with Private Party squaring off against Best Friends. The winners of that match will become the number one contenders to the AEW Tag Team championships, which are currently held by Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega.
This week’s AEW Dark will feature nine matches, nearly all of which include talents making their first in-ring appearances in nearly two months.
In one of the featured matches, Luther will face Jimmy Havoc for the first time ever in a match that was supposed to happen back in February and got remade on this past week’s Road to Double or Nothing YouTube show. Luther was last in action on the February 26th Dark in a win over Sonny Kiss while Havoc has been a regular on both Dark and Dynamite during the pandemic.
In other matches announced:
Orange Cassidy vs. Jason Cade: This will be Cassidy’s third solo outing (1-1) and first since a win over Jimmy Havoc on the April 22nd Dynamite. This will be Cade’s AEW debut after last being seen on the March 3rd WWE Raw in a losing effort to Aleister Black.
Fenix vs. Alan Angels: Fenix was last seen on the March 18th Dynamite as the Lucha Bros defeated Best Friends. This will be his first AEW singles match since a January 15th Dark loss to Joey Janela. This will be Angels’ third AEW match (0-2) and his first since his much-discussed loss to Kenny Omega on the April 22nd Dynamite.
Private Party vs. Lee Johnson & Musa: PP have been on the shelf since the March 11th Dynamite when they teamed with Joey Janela in a losing effort to the Death Triangle. Johnson and Musa teamed up in a losing effort to Best Friends on the April 28th Dark.
Britt Baker vs. Skyler Moore: A day before she’ll be in a four-way on Dynamite, Baker will look to start a winning streak against Moore. This will be Moore’s sophomore effort in AEW as she lost to Awesome Kong on the January 1st Dark.
Kris Statlander vs. Dani Jordyn: Statlander has been out of action since the March 18th Dynamite when she lost in a four way. This will be Jordyn’s AEW debut.
Jurassic Express vs. Mike Reed & Ryan Rembrandt: A day before they return to tag team action on Dynamite, the Express will team up for the first time since the March 18th Dynamite when they defeated The Butcher & The Blade. Reed teamed with Corey Hollis in a losing effort to Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss on the March 18th Dynamite while this will be the promotional debut for Rembrandt, a Nightmare Factory trainee.
Colt Cabana vs. Shawn Dean: Cabana will be looking to snap a two match losing streak against Dean who is 0-3 in his young AEW career.
#10 vs. Jon Cruz: The newest Dark Order member and former Preston Vance will look to go 2-0 in his new gimmick as he faces Cruz who was last seen on the March 18th Dynamite, teaming with Matt Sells in a losing effort to QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes.
The show opened with the continuation of Brandon Cutler’s Kick Out Challenge. Cutler enlisted The Young Bucks to help as he said they kick out of more false finishes than anyone. Broken Matt Hardy appeared to define false finishes for us. The Bucks proceeded to hit Cutler with a variety of moves. Cutler was unable to kick out of any of them.
Matt, Nick and Malachi Jackson played the basketball shooting game “H-O-R-S-E” with the letters “B-T-E.” Matt bragged about his basketball prowess. Nick and Malachi hit a variety of trick shots and Matt missed all of his shots.
Tony Schiavone and Cody appeared at AEW Headquarters East, debuting a new segment called “Quarantine Confessions.” Tony confessed that he has become addicted to Playstation 4. Cody sipped coffee from a cup labeled “FTR.”
Luchasaurus went to a Panda Express to look for Super Panda as he continued looking for his tail. Super Panda told him to kick rocks and that he would not help him. Luchasaurus promised to get Panda some bookings. Panda agreed to help him. A bouncing Colt Cabana head made a cameo.
Benigno Bodega and Taz appeared via Zoom. Taz said he has mellowed with age but he has problems with Excalibur and asked Bodega for help. Taz buried Schiavone. Taz said Schiavone and Excalibur owe him money. Excalibur called Taz and Taz cursed him out.
Nick and Malachi continued playing B-T-E. Nick missed an easy layup and lost the game. There was another Cabana cameo.
Private Party reconciled after their fight last week. They received a secret message from The Lucha Bros. Quen went off “to do lab stuff” on the message but was attacked by a giant teddy bear. Kassidy drank vodka and had a dream that he was attacked by the mystery man that appeared several weeks ago, then dreamed that he was wrestling the teddy bear. He ran off to warn Quen about the bear.
Hangman Page appeared from his house. He asked viewers to “kindly shut the f— up” as in his house, he has a sourdough starter. Page walked us through making sourdough bread. He was not wearing pants. Page took a clearly store-bought loaf of bread out of the oven.
Page chastised his wife for not disinfecting the flour. Page said he was not being safe enough and had to make a change.
The show opened with Matt and Nick Jackson doing some comedy. Matt said he went to the hospital after BTE 200 and his lower back is going to be injured for another two years. Nick said he went to the hospital and his health is at fifteen percent.
Matt and Nick said that they could have gone out after BTE 200 but they’re bored in the midst of this global pandemic. Their conversation was interrupted by a message being written in the sky.
Luchasaurus called Dr. P.J. Black to help him get his tail back.
Brandon Cutler started the #Kick Out Challenge. Steven Andrews and Simon Lotto used a variety of covers and cradles and Cutler kicked out of them. Cutler said when he returns to AEW he won’t lose another match. He was pinned at the end of the segment.
Colt Cabana did a parody of the Young Bucks book commercial.
The Bucks did a parody of the Don’t Rush Challenge.
Dr. Black made a series of potions to send Luchasaurus to another realm to find his tail. There he encountered a snake, Super Panda and dinosaur puppets portraying NXT coaches. After returning from the realm, Luchasaurus ran off to a Panda Express to find his tail.
Private Party were hanging out in a backyard. They were six feet apart and were texting each other. Isiah Kassidy asked Quen if he remembered the masked man that interrupted their backyard match on their last BTE appearance. Quen said he did and texted Kassidy an emoji wearing a surgical mask.
Kassidy got up to leave and a surgical mask dropped out of his pocket. Quen confronted Kassidy and accused him of attacking him in the backyard match. Kassidy left. Quen then realized that the masked man was Rey Fenix.
The final scene cut back to Matt and Nick. The message written in the sky was revealed to be — FTR.
The episode was centered around a battle royal with a special stipulation.
Highlights from the show included:
Matt Hardy delivered the rules for the Under The Limit Battle Royale
Every 60 seconds a new person comes in
You can enter the battle royale in groups of two if you’re jobbers
The winner of the match gets to main event BTE Episode 200 and choose his match
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SCU discussed the entry numbers they drew for the battle royale.
Private Party were shown watching BTE matches in a backyard. They began to spar. Their friend EJ appeared and they had a handicap match. Private Party defeated EJ. This was shot in the manner of action movie fight sequence.
After the match, a giant teddy bear appeared at Private Party’s house. The bear exploded. A mystery man was shown lurking in the yard, watching on with glee as Private Party fell victim to the exploding bear.
Britt Baker appeared on a video conference call. She said she has a broken nose but always has Tony Schiavone’s best interests in mind.
Baker conferenced in Schiavone and Benigno Bodega the future teller. Bodega insulted Tony and told him he still has heat with Mick Foley. Bodega said Tony has a cavity. Baker freaked out.
Bodega said Tony will get a call later that will show him his future. Tony exited the video conference and answered a phone call from Starbucks, offering him their lead barista position.
We saw a Luchasaurus dream sequence. His mother told him to find his tail. Super Panda briefly appeared. Taya Valkyrie appeared and chopped Luchasaurus’s head off. Luchasaurus woke up and said he needs to see a doctor.
Kenny Omega appeared at the Nightmare Factory. He was waiting to use the restroom. He pounded on the door and said he really needed to use the bathroom. Colt Cabana answered and said he was busy working.
Omega said he didn’t want to flex his EVP muscle, but this was an emergency. He walked to another part of the building. He opened the door to an out of order bathroom and Cabana was in that room as well.
Cabana tossed Omega some toilet paper and told him to go outside.
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Nick Jackson won a 9-person Under the Limit Battle Royale
Order of entry:
1. Frankie Kazarian
2. Scorpio Sky
3. Christopher Daniels
4. Matt Jackson
5. Simon Lotto & Steven Andrews
6. Peter Avalon
7. Brandon Cutler
8. Nick Jackson
Order of exit:
1. Daniels
2. Sky
3. Avalon
4. Cutler
5. Lotto & Andrews
6. Kazarian
7. Matt
Sky and Kazarian did some Rocky III-inspired comedy.
Daniels entered and tried to talk Kazarian and Sky into teaming with him. They threw Daniels out instead. Matt Jackson entered and tossed Sky. Jackson and Kazarian went for pinfalls and submissions.
Kazarian hit a cutter on Andrews. Avalon entered. Kazarian kicked Avalon low. Avalon eliminated himself. Cutler entered and was immediately clotheslined over the top and eliminated.
Nick Jackson was the final entrant. He came in as the proverbial house of fire and hit a crossbody. Nick rolled outside and did some NBA Jam comedy with Sky. He also shot Avalon off a tennis net as if it were ring ropes.
Matt and Nick appeared to be the final two. They did a prolonged series of teases and counters that was awesome. Kazarian climbed out from under the ring and was promptly eliminated.
Nick went out to the apron. They did a series of elimination teases. Matt and Nick traded strikes on the apron.
The finish saw Matt tease a tombstone on the apron. Nick reversed and eliminated Matt with a German suplex off the apron.
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Nick said he wants to face Matt in the main event of BTE 200 to prove that he’s ready to return to AEW. Matt said Nick has no idea what he’s gotten himself into, then called his brother a prick.
The Big News: Death Triangle ran in after the main event to lay a beating on five babyfaces. It took three more, in the form of Best Friends and Orange Cassidy, to run them off.
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When looking up this episode on YouTube I couldn’t help but notice the large number of episodes (including this one) where the thumbnail is of the Jurassic Express.
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Jurassic Express (with Marko Stunt) defeated Kip Sabian & Peter Avalon (with Penelope Ford & Leva Bates)
Speaking of the Jurassic Express, they are here to kick off Dark this week. Avalon, who comes into this match at 0-10, took forever to start his promo. He got as far as saying we were in Denver before the Express’ music began. This doesn’t seem right, but the graphic indicates this is only the second time Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are teaming together in a two-on-two tag match.
Jungle Boy ran wild on both heels and was going for some sort of slingshot maneuver, but Penelope tripped him up and Sabian took over. Sabian and Avalon worked well together. Avalon missed a beautiful moonsault, giving Jungle Boy room to crawl for a tag. However. Ford grabbed one of Leva’s books and threw it into the ring to distract the referee, so the heels kept control.
Unfortunately for Sabian and Avalon, their ladies could not get along. Bates and Ford began arguing with one another, which distracted the team long enough for Luchasaurus to get the tag. He had it almost had it won with a moonsault to Avalon, but Sabian bum-rushed into the pile, breaking up the cover. Luchasaurus gave Sabian the tail whip, allowing Jungle Boy to pin Avalon following an assisted cutter.
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Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez previewed the rest of the show. Dasha wanted to know why Tony was wearing a Nightmare Family shirt. Turns out 20% of the proceeds of that shirt up until March 14 will be donated to Planned Pethood.
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Jimmy Havoc defeated Severino Corrente
I believe “Severino Corrente” loosely translates to “lamb being led to slaughter.”
Corrente had his fingers yanked back. Most people would be like “I’m done”. Instead Corrente punched Havoc to no avail. Jimmy used a discus elbow to the face and went for some sort of fireman’s carry, but Corrente raked the eyes.
Corrente started to build momentum, but then he ran chest-first into Jimmy’s feet. He did duck an Acid Rainmaker and used a German suplex into the corner turnbuckles. He tried to fishhook Havoc, but instead Jimmy bit his fingers. A series of impact moves followed, including a leg hook DDT and finished off Corrente with an Acid Rainmaker for the pin.
Havoc beckoned to the back, daring Luther and Mel to come out. Unfortunately, you get what you ask for, as Luther flew down the ramp and attacked Havoc from behind, eventually laying out Havoc with a DDT on the ramp.
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Hikaru Shida defeated Abadon
Abadon is one of the most unique looking wrestlers on the roster. She has done her face paint to look like blood is seeping from her forehead into her eye and down her cheek. She is certainly a sight to behold. By comparison, Hikaru Shida does not look like she has blood coming out of her eye.
Some of the crowd chanted for Abadon to “eat her soul” despite being the heel and Shida being very well liked. Abadon tried to eat Shida’s hand, which threw off the number one ranked contender. Abadon looked really good here and I really hope she’s not one and done. Abadon had her tied in the ropes and licked Shida’s face. Shida was not happy about this, possibly for more than one reason.
Abadon didn’t sell for much, but she definitely felt it when Shida used a running knee in the corner and a missile dropkick. Shida nailed a knee to the back of the head, but Abadon almost won with the Edge-a-matic. Shida finally managed to hit a Shining Wizard for the win.
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Backstage, Dasha asked Jimmy Havoc for an update on his injuries. Havoc thanked Luther for doing it, so being the nice guy Luther is, he attacked Havoc again and had to be dragged away.
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The Librarians were telling us about the newest book of the month, which is Written In The Stars. They came upon Colt Cabana, who was listening to a podcast instead of reading a book. Avalon kept recommending authors, so Colt recommended podcasts. This led to a challenge for a match.
Leva went back and told Colt she loves his podcast.
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Private Party defeated Sonny Kiss & Brandon Cutler
A few weeks ago, Cutler almost beat Private Party by himself when his partner, Shawn Spears walked out. So how will things be when he has a loyal partner? Either way, Cutler is dueling it out with Peter Avalon for the worst record in AEW at 0-9.
Cutler did a great job countering Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen, much like he did the last time they met. This time Sonny got involved and it ended up in a standoff. Excalibur wondered if Quen and Sonny got their hair done at the same place, which led Taz to say he thinks they go to the same “Dye-ist”. While this conversation was going on, Kiss went down to a combo Rude Awakening/Double Foot Stomp, giving Private Party the advantage.
Private Party mimicked Kiss while getting the heat on him. Cutler got the hot tag and used a beautiful springboard double clothesline. Cutler looked good, laying a beating on both men. We did have a contrived spot where Kassidy was laying on the middle rope and had to stay hanging there while Cutler did moves to Quen first.
Get out the hammer and nails, because this team of Cutler and Kiss are BUILDING MOMENTUM! Kiss went for a boot on Quen, but Marq moved and Kiss ended up in the splits. Quen went for what turned into a Moonsault with double knees. Cutler got in and started doing moves without getting a tag. The referee kept telling him he’s not legal, but Cutler ignored him and hit the TPK on both members of Private Party. Kiss went to the middle rope, but Kassidy prevented him from leaping off. Quen tagged in as Private Party nailed Kiss with the Gin and Juice for the win.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere (or just off the camera), Death Triangle ran in to attack Private Party! PAC, Pentagon and Fenix ended up laying out not only them, but also Cutler and Kiss, who tried to make the save.
PAC took the mic and told all of AEW that if they continue to disrespect athletes of their caliber, they’ll get exactly what they asked for. Joey Janela tried to run in for the save, but was also laid out. Best Friends and Orange Cassidy then hit the ring to send the Death Triangle reeling as the show closed
The newly-formed Death Triangle of PAC, Pentagon Jr., and Ray Fenix didn’t have to wait too long for their first opponents as a trio to be named.
A day after announcing their formation, AEW announced Thursday on social media that the Triangle will face Private Party and Joey Janela on next week’s Dynamite from Salt Lake City, Utah.
After PAC’s submission win over Chuck Taylor on this week’s Dynamite, Trent went face to face with PAC only to get pushed aside by Orange Cassidy who wanted a piece of PAC one more time after their Revolution match. The Lucha Bros then ran out and attacked the Best Friends threesome, announcing their union in a promo afterward.
Private Party is coming off a win over Shawn Spears and Brandon Cutler on last week’s AEW Dark and have tangled with the Lucha Bros several times during their time in AEW. Janela is coming off a win over Kip Sabian in a falls count anywhere match on the February 19th Dark.
Also announced for next week:
Cody vs. Ortiz
MJF/Butcher & The Blade vs. Jurassic Express
The announcement of the rules for the Blood & Guts edition of Dynamite
The Big News: Shawn Spears and Peter Avalon both walked out on their partners this week, leading to their teams losing.
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This past Tuesday, during my critically-acclaimed AEW Dark report, as Joey Janela hit Kip Sabian in the head with a prosthetic leg, I quipped “Do I really have nothing better to do on Tuesday nights?” Apparently AEW listened and here we are, for one week only, on Friday.
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Excalibur and Taz started the show by introducing all the matches.
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Luther defeated Sonny Kiss
51-year old Luther was making his AEW in-ring debut here. It still makes him younger than WWE Universal Champion Goldberg and ROH World Champion PCO. Not sure whatever happened to Mel and I wonder how she now feels about shaving her head for that Nightmare Collective angle.
Luther charged at the bell with a series of chops. Kiss tried to combat them with his speed, but Luther took his head off with a big boot. This was not the most exciting match in the world, but the fans were into it.
Kiss made his comeback with a series of boots and kicks and hit the Axes and O’s for a two count. Luther rolled out of the way of a moonsault, caught Kiss on a hurricanrana attempt, and laid him out with a powerbomb. Luther slapped on a Camel Clutch and began clawing at Kiss’ face before the submission.
Luther appeared to not want to break the hold, so Jimmy Havoc hit the ring, which caused Luther to run off.
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Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez were high above the arena to talk about Revolution tomorrow night. Gonzalez wants title changes, especially the World title.
They also talked about how great it is to work with Excalibur and Taz.
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The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson w/ Alex Reynolds and John Silver) defeated Michael Nakazawa & Peter Avalon (w/ Leva Bates)
This might be the weirdest team in wrestling history.
Dark Order will take on Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian of SoCal Uncensored tomorrow night at Revolution. Bates took the mic and chastised Avalon for insulting every city they go to. Bates said she brought the perfect book for him: Don’t Be A Dick.
Avalon took the mic, again, when Nakazawa tried to pour oil all over himself. Avalon said he didn’t want any of that comedy crap. He ordered Nakazawa out of the ring, but Avalon then slipped on the oil Nakazawa already spilled on the mat and Nakazawa started anyway. The Dark Order immediately cut off Nakazawa and laid in a beating.
Nakazawa slipped out of a suplex and tried to make a tag. However, ladies and gentlemen, right here on AEW Dark, we saw the biggest betrayal since Benedict Arnold sold the plans to West Point to the British. Nakazawa reached for the tag, but Avalon jumped off the apron and walked away! Nakazawa was quickly pinned with Fatality.
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They replayed the great Cody-MJF video package that aired on Dynamite.
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Dr. Britt Baker defeated Miranda Alize
Alize, in her second AEW match, was here to get her first win, but the booking god’s were not kind to her and she went one-on-one with The Doctor.
Alize held her own briefly, but Baker quickly took over. Baker actually used an old William Regal trick where she got Alize down in the corner and back kicked her while the referee gave her a warning.
Baker hit a corkscrew fisherman neckbreaker for a near fall that she disagreed about. That gave Miranda a few seconds to make her comeback, but it wasn’t enough. Baker took her down with a slingblade and locked on the Lockjaw for the submission.
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Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) defeated Shawn Spears & Brandon Cutler (w/ Tully Blanchard)
Spears is really scraping the bottom of the barrel the last few weeks when it comes to getting tag team partners. From the winless Peter Avalon to the winless Brandon Cutler. What Cutler lacks in wins, he makes up for in having more polyhedral dice than anyone else in the locker room. Private Party spent three minutes throwing their beads to the crowd.
Cutler, Quen, and Kassidy had a great sequence where they went for moves on each other, but they kept being avoided or reversed. No one hit anything and it ended in a triple dropkick.
Spears did not like these shenanigans and demanded to be tagged in, which he did and took over when he got in. Cutler got back in and hit a nice series of moves on Private Party, before Spears tagged himself back in. The fans chanted “10,” and Spears shook his finger at the crowd and told them “no.”
Spears got the heat on Kassidy. While he distracted the referee, Tully tried to encourage Cutler to put the boots to Kassidy, which he refused to do. Kassidy eventually made the hot tag to Quen, who ran wild on both Spears and Cutler.
Quen did a dive over the top rope and Spears pulled Cutler in the way to take the blow. Spears yelled at Cutler and called him stupid. Then, ladies and gentlemen, right here on AEW Dark, in the biggest betrayal since Benedict Arnold sold the plans to West Point to the British, Spears threw his partner in the ring and walked out on him.
Cutler then hit the TPK on Quen and almost got the pin. Cutler begged Spears to come back. The fans chanted for Cutler as Spears walked off. Cutler then got finished off with Gin & Juice.
Just forget the same exact thing happened in the second match of the show.
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That does it for Dark. Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for AEW Revolution tomorrow night and Dynamite next Wednesday!
AEW released their latest Road to show, focusing on their Dynamite event in Cleveland this Wednesday. You can watch the video below:
The first segment focused on Kip Sabian explaining why he and Penelope Ford have been attacking Joey Janela. He also talked about his upcoming match against Cody this Wednesday, saying that he knows Arn Anderson’s expertise, but he can’t wrestle the match for Cody.
The next segment focused on Private Party. They talked about growing up in Brooklyn, avoiding peer pressure and how they connected with one another as a team. They will be teaming up with Darby Allin to take on Chris Jericho, Santana and Ortiz.
The final segment focused on Brandi Rhodes speaking to a therapist about her recent change in attitude. She also talked about the other members of the Nightmare Collective, including Awesome Kong, Mel and Luther.
Also announced for Wednesday is Jon Moxley, who will be in attendance and will speak out after becoming the number one contender to the AEW title last week.
The Butcher & The Blade will also team up to take on The Young Bucks.
Four matches have been set for next week’s AEW Dynamite.
It was confirmed on tonight’s episode of Dynamite that Kris Statlander will still get her AEW Women’s title match that was originally set for tonight next week. AEW allowed Statlander to honor a booking for Bar Wrestling that was accepted prior to her signing with the company, hence why tonight’s Women’s title match was changed to a four-way.
Christopher Daniels will also be in action, taking on Sammy Guevara. SCU were doing a backstage promo when Guevara came up to them and singled out Daniels. In response, Daniels issued a challenge to Guevara, who accepted.
A tag team match featuring Kenny Omega & Hangman Page against Private Party was also made after Page confronted Private Party backstage. Hangman, who joined the commentary team for the main event, was surprised to learn that he would be teaming with Omega when the match was officially announced.
Another tag team match will have Cody and Dustin Rhodes taking on the Lucha Bros.
Next week’s episode of Dynamite will take place at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.
Three matches were made for next week’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
Jon Moxley opened the show issuing a challenge to anyone in the back. Later in the show, Darby Allin defeated Peter Avalon and Shawn Spears in a triple threat match and accepted Moxely’s challenge.
Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz was also set for next week. This happened towards the end of the show when Santana & Ortiz laid out the Young Bucks on the AEW stage following a brawl in the back. The duo had stopped attacking and were about to leave, but then went on the attack again. It was only when Private Party arrived that Santana & Ortiz retreated.
A 12-man Dynamite Dozen battle royal was also announced. The two finalists of this match will face off on November 27 in Chicago with the winner receiving a diamond ring.
Dynamite will take place next week Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana.
A triple threat tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team titles is set for Full Gear.
New champions SCU (Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian) will face the Lucha Bros. and Private Party in a triple threat match. This was announced during tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
A bronze medal match was announced at the start of the show where Private Party would face The Dark Order, with the winners being added to the title match at Full Gear. Private Party won the match following the Gin ‘n’ Juice, where Isiah Kassidy gave Stu Grayson a hurricanrana off the top rope, with Marq Quen hitting a cutter and scoring the pinfall for his team.
SCU won the World Tag Team titles last week, defeating the Lucha Bros. in the finals of the tournament to crown the first champions.
Full Gear takes place this Saturday, November 9, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
Joey Janela, Nyla Rose, and Dustin Rhodes all picked up their first wins.
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– Tony Schiavone introduced the show from the AEW Dark Control Center, ran down the matches, and announced that joining Excalibur for tonight would be guest commentator Taz.
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Joey Janela defeated Brandon Cutler
Janela in back-to-back Dark matches, as he main evented last week against Kenny Omega and is opening up this week’s show. Both men were looking to pick up their first win in AEW.
Last week I made a joke about Kenny Omega and Janela’s unsanctioned match being a catch-as-catch-can mat classic — well I want to believe Janela read my joke and took it to heart. This week, in a match held under standard rules, Janela showed off his wrestling skills. Like with Mick Foley, his technical skills aren’t going to carry him, but it’s good to know he has them.
Cutler is a bit too bland in look and personality to stand out, but — in a weird way — it makes him stand out when he’s in the ring with someone like Janela or MJF (like he was on Dynamite’s debut).
With that said, this was a solid opener. Janela hit a suicide dive at one point and then did a lap around the ring and leaped off the stairs with a forearm strike. Cutler came back and went for a springboard move, but Janela dropped him stomach-first on the top rope and hit a top rope brainbuster for the win.
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It was time for From Undesirable to Undeniable, with Cody sitting down with QT Marshall aka Michael Cuellari. Cody met him at ROH, and he was a super nice, super friendly guy who then helped produce All In. Then he created a documentary called The Wrestler in an effort to get a job in WWE.
Marshall said he was hired in Ring of Honor and was immediately disliked by the locker room. He injured his neck almost immediately and decided to get out of the ring. Finally, he moved to Georgia and went all in on wrestling and now he’s here. He’s medically cleared and Cody told him he’d be wrestling in Pittsburgh this week.
It was a really good segment.
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Nyla Rose pinned Leva Bates (w/ Peter Avalon)
Both women have zero official wins, despite Rose winning the women’s Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Avalon came out with Bates and cut a promo on how rude the fans are here in the City of Brotherly Love.
The fans did not appreciate being talked down to by the Librarian, who gave a history lesson. He compared the nation’s capital moving from Philly to D.C. to Bryce Harper moving from D.C. to Philly, since the Nationals flourished after Harper left for the Phillies. He also ripped on Rocky Balboa and the Eagles defense. Bates told Avalon to shhhh, which got a couple cheers.
Avalon threw some books in the ring for a distraction at the start, which did work, but Rose flung them back at him. Bates kept going for a crucifix pin, but she couldn’t get Rose over. Rose hit a Death Valley Driver, but Avalon jumped on the apron to show the referee a passage in the book he’s reading.
Bates nearly got a roll-up win, but Rose kicked out and then heaved Bates over the top rope and onto Avalon.
Back in the ring, Rose picked up the win with the Beast Bomb.
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Schiavone ran down the lineup for tomorrow night’s Dynamite and we got a video package for The Dark Order.
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After their match last week, Alex Marvez interviewed SoCal Uncensored. They did not have an update about Christopher Daniels. Both Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian cut fiery promos about the Lucha Brothers and vowed to win the AEW Tag Team titles.
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Jenn Decker attempted to interview PAC last week, who told her to move. PAC, covered in blood, said he has done nothing but help Jon Moxley since he got here. He left Kenny Omega laying out for him and this was the thanks he gets?
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Up next was a video package promoting Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle.
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The Young Bucks, Cody & Dustin Rhodes (w/ Brandi Rhodes and MJF) defeated Private Party, CIMA & T-Hawk
CIMA got the best of Cody early, so he rolled to the outside to regroup. Brandi gave him a kiss, then Cody turned to MJF and started leaning in, which was funny. Back in the ring, Cody unnecessarily did a diving tag to Dustin, which cracked Taz up. Dustin has been wrestling 31 years. T-Hawk, Nick Jackson, and Private Party were all born after Dustin debuted.
This match was more about the comedy than the eight-men trying to have a **** bout. Matt Jackson used a rolling Northern Lights suplex on Marq Quen. Nick was going about 200 MPH, hitting kicks and dives and X-Factors on all four opponents. They turned around and hit all their big moves on Nick and that would have been it, but Cody broke it up.
CIMA and Nick reversed each other over and over as T-Hawk was setting up for a chop. He eventually went for it on Nick, but Nick reversed it one last time and CIMA took the chop.
Dustin tagged in and went at top speed, hitting powerslams on Quen, CIMA and T-Hawk. Isiah Kassidy ran in, but Dustin held up his finger and asked for a quick timeout to take a breath. Kassidy was nice enough to do it and then ran in for his powerslam.
We had the giant dive spot that ended with Brandi diving when MJF hopped up on the apron. MJF showed why he’s the best heel, as the referee got distracted again, so he went for a dive, but instead kept running the ropes and wouldn’t dive. CIMA laid him out, so Cody laid him out, so T-Hawk laid him out, and The Young Bucks laid him out.
The Young Bucks and Rhodes brothers set their foes up on all four corners and hit Unnatural Kicks (the former Shattered Dreams) on all four and Dustin pinned T-Hawk with the Final Reckoning.
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Final Thoughts —
Probably the weakest of the three AEW Dark episodes, even though the show was fine. Thank you for reading. Talk to you again next week!
