AEW Dynamite
Episode 101
#AEWDynamite
Original Air Date: September 8, 2021
Event Date: September 8, 2021
(aired live on TNT & the FITE app)
City: Cincinnati, OH
Venue: Fifth Third Arena
Commentary: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz
Ring Announcer: Justin Roberts
Intro Video
“Dynamite” by No One Hero
Video
Clips from All Out this past Sunday including the Lucha Brothers becoming the new tag champs, and the debuts of Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson.
Match 1
Malakai Black vs “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes
(referee: Aubrey Edwards)
Result: Malakai Black wins via pinfall after Black Mass
Time: 9:51
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Dustin gave Malakai Black his best fight so far in AEW. There were a couple of moments when Black and Rhodes didn’t quite connect with each other, but overall this was a very nice match with some nice emotion. At one point Black brought out the boot that Cody had removed a few weeks ago when he teased retirement. Black tried to anger Dustin by showing him the boot but Dustin’s anger just led to Black getting beat up for a minute. That was a good moment, and even though the outcome of the match was always certain, they told a good story in the ring.
Video
The Lucha Brothers talk about their tag title win while we watch clips from their cage match with the Young Bucks. Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix challenge anyone to try to take the titles away from them.
Video
Eddie Kingston and Miro each react to their TNT Title bout from All Out as we watch clips from the match. Kingston points out that Miro had to resort to a low bow, but Miro is still confident that he can destroy Kingston.
Ring Area
CM Punk heads to the ring. Punk starts by thanking everyone for supporting his in his first match back. Punk then talks about tonight’s main event between Minoru Suzuki and hometown hero Jon Moxley. He also points out Brian Pillman Jr.’s Aunt Linda who is in the front row, calling her an “angel.” He then talks talks about Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson debuting at All Out.
So what’s next for CM Punk? He asks the crowd for advice. As Punk interacts with the crown, Taz gets off of commentary and gets on a mic. Taz is tired of Punk’s love-fest with everyone. Taz also warns Punk to never mention any member of Team Taz that he wants to face. Confused, Punk says no one mentioned Team Taz, but Taz says Punk has mentioned them in interviews. Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook come out to the stage as Taz speaks. CM Punk smirks, and he says taz can send any member of Team Taz. He then spits Taz’s line back at him, telling Team Taz to beat Punk if they can, and to survive if he lets them. Punk drops the mic.
Video
With FTR behind them, Santana and Ortiz are focused on climbing to the top of the tag division.
Backstage
Tony Schiavone welcomes Ruby Soho. Schivaone wonders why Soho issued an open challenge if she’s already earned an AEW Women’s Title shot. Soho says she doesn’t want people to think she got lucky.
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. interrupts with Rebel and Jamie Hayter. Baker says Soho will become completely irrelevant after losing to Hayter and Baker. Soho responds by saying Baker has so many nicknames to tell people who she is because she’s afraid of revealing what she’s not. Baker reminds Soho that the only nickname that matters is “AEW Women’s World Champion.” She also thinks “The Runaway” Ruby Soho should run back to catering where she’s spend the last four years of her life. Tensions flare, but no physical altercation takes place.
Match 2
Powerhouse Hobbs w/ Hook vs Dante Martin
(referee: Rick Knox)
Result: Powerhouse Hobbs wins via pinfall after a spine buster
Time: 8:24
Match Thoughts
Good match. This was a fun battle of power versus speed for the first three quarters of the match. Towards the end, Dante Martin his a dive onto Hobbs on the outside, and it looked like Hobbs got hit in the side of his head before slamming his head hard on the floor. Hobbs was clearly struggling, and the match ended pretty quickly after that as Martin helped Hobbs get back in the ring before feeding himself into a big spine buster for Hobbs. It was a scary finish, but I’d love to see these guys go at it again sometime.
Ring Area
From the balcony, Dan Lambert talks about the “truth” Tony Khan is trying to hide. AEW only has two real men wrestling for it: Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page. Lambert invites anyone to try to take either of them down.
Video
Matt Hardy wants to take Orange Cassidy’s hair for some reason. Orange says, “whatever.”
Ring Area
MJF and Wardlow head to the ring. Angrily, MJF says he beat Chris Jericho for a fourth time are All Out. Then the match was restarted due to extreme bias against him. MJF goes on and on about Cincinnati before picking on Brian Pillman’s daughter.
Before long, Brian Pillman Jr. comes out to the stage. Pillman defends his sister and Cincinnati, so MJF starts in on Pillman Jr.’s mother. Pillman runs to the ring, but Wardlow stand between him and MJF. MJF tells Wardlow to stand aside, wondering if he’s going to help MJF like he did on Sunday. Wardlow moves, and a few more words from MJF cause Pillman to attack. Pillman is all over MJF. Wardlow is slow to pull Pillmon off, but he eventually does, hitting Pillman with a German suplex. Griff Garrison hits the ring to help his tag partner, but Garrison is put down with a lariat from Wardlow. MJF then hits Garrison with the Dynamite Dozen ring. Wardlow and MFJ go in to attack Garrison again, but Pillman puts himself over his partner. MJF and Wardlow decide they’re done and walk away.
Video
A quick look at tonight’s main event between Jon Moxley and Minoru Suzuki.
Match 3
Jamie Hayter w/ Britt Baker, Rebel vs Ruby Soho
(referee: Bryce Remsburg)
Result: Ruby Soho wins via pinfall after the Riott Kick
Time: 7:27
Match Thoughts
Good match. Hayter dominated most of the first part of the match with her power, hitting and throwing Soho very hard. Hayter’s advantage laster through a commercial break, then Soho started to mount a comeback. Soho relied on a lot of kicks to cut Hayter down, and a maneuver that looked like Hayter was blocking a poison rana from Soho ended up with Hayter twisting and falling on her face. Hayter had a hard time coming back from that, but she still looked strong against Soho who, unsurprisingly, came out on top.
Ring Area
After the match, Britt Baker and Rebel attack Ruby Soho. Riho Runs out to help Soho, but Riho takes a back-breaker from Hayter. Baker sets up Soho for a curb stomp on the AEW Women’s Title belt, but Kris Statlander runs out with a chair to chase Baker, Rebel, and Hayter away.
Video
Ricky Starks is tired of Brian Cage, and Cage challenges Starks to a match.
Match 4
“The Chairman” Shawn Spears & FTR w/ Tully Blanchard, Wardlow vs Stu Grayson & Evil Uno & John Silver w/ Alan Angels, Preston Vance, Colt Cabana
(referee: Paul Turner)
Result: Shawn Spears pins John Silver after C4
Time: 4:49
Match Thoughts
Good match. This was fairly short, and it was really more of a story line match for Dark Order. Dark Order has had internal conflicts ever since Adam Page got beat up a few weeks ago, and Dark Order’s issues have started to get physical. John Silver seemed reluctant to tag with Uno and Grayson tonight, but he seemed to get more comfortable as the match went on. However, Dark Order was picked apart by The Pinnacle, and Silver ended up getting isolated in the match with no help from either of his partners.
Ring Area
After the match, The Pinnacle leaves while Dark Order continues to struggle. Evil Uno gets angry with Silver. Silver pushes Uno, which causes Grayson to knock Silver down. Angels attacks Grayson as Vance and Cabana try to restore order. Tay Conti and Anna Jay come out to the stage, looking down at the ring disapprovingly.
Video
A look at some of the issues coming out of the Casino Battle Royale including Tay Conti and Anna Jay versus The Bunny and Penelope Ford, Jade Gargill (with Mark Sterling), Nyla Rose (with Vickie Guerrero), and Thunder Rosa.
Backstage
Tony Schiavone welcomes Tully Blanchard. Tully has an issue with Sting to capitalize on Darby Allin. Blanchard says Allin will face Shawn Spears next week. He also says there will come a time when it’s just Blanchard and Sting.
Ring Area
Sammy Guevara comes out to the stage with some cards for the picture in picture break. Sammy’s cards talk about some of this summer’s stories in AEW. He also plugs his Instagram.
Backstage
Alex Marvez asks Brian Pillman Jr. for an update while Griff Garrison is attended to in the background. Pillman says he has requested a match against MJF. As Pillman speaks, The Acclaimed interrupt, offering Garrison more ice and Pillman flowers. Max Caster announces that he’s also requested a match… against Brian Pillman Jr. this Friday on Rampage.
Ring Area
In the ring, Tony Schiavone welcomes The Elite (Young Bucks, Good Brothers, Brandon Cutler, Michael Nakazawa, Don Callis, and Kenny Omega). Don Callis starts by saying they have a plan for getting back the tag titles which were stolen from them. Nick Jackson then introduces the newest member of The Elite: Adam Cole.
Cole is ready for story time, but first, he warns Tony Schiavone to be careful with how he treats Britt Baker. Cole then tells Schiavone to leave the ring. Cole goes on to say that AEW is the success it is thanks to the men in the ring right now. Cole is now with the best of all time. Now The Elite is complete (bay bay). Kenny Omega says that is cause for celebration, but he has to address something. Omega hates few things more than interruptions, and he was interrupted at All Out. Omega is once again interrupted as Bryan Danielson comes out and heads towards the ring.
Omega asks the rest of The Elite to leave the ring so he can face Bryan Danielson one on one. As Omega speaks, Danielson takes the mic from his hand. Danielson asks the crowd if they want to see Bryan Danielson fight Kenny Omega. The crowd says “yes,” but Omega says it doesn’t work like that here. Danielson thinks Omega doesn’t want a match with him because he knows he isn’t on Danielson’s level. Omega attacks, but Danielson quickly puts him in a crossface. The Elite attack, but Christian Cage, Frankie Kazarian, and Jurassic Express quickly run to the ring to help Danielson. Most of The Elite is cleared from the ring, leaving Brandon Cutler alone to take a flying knee from Bryan Danielson.
Match 5
Minoru Suzuki vs Jon Moxley
(referee: Aubrey Edwards)
Result: Jon Moxley wins via pinfall after a modified Paradigm Shift
Time: 8:06
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Moxley and Suzuki fought most of this match in the center of the ring with lots of strikes. If felt a bit short considering their long-standing rivalry, but it was still a very entertaining television main event. Late in the match Moxley started to pull way ahead of Suzuki, but Suzuki took a lot of damage before finally going down to the mat. Suzuki was also busted open above his right eye at some point, adding an extra layer to the perception of a hard-hitting fight. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been at a PPV like the Kojima match, but it was still entertaining. My only real complain is that they cut off Suzuki’s entrance theme before the “kaze ni nare” line. That feels like a minor crime, and someone should probably be fined or something.
Show Impressions
This was a pretty good show. It’s hard to follow up something as great as All Out though, and this episode of Dynamite definitely felt like it was more about laying groundwork for all the new people and feuds than it was about putting on a packed show tonight. There was a lot of talking and a bunch of video packages, and the wrestling felt like it took a bit of a backseat tonight. Even so, it was a fine episode.
Match of the Night
Minoru Suzuki vs Jon Moxley
Admittedly, I’m probably picking this as much on my hype for it as I am the action in it, because tonight’s opening match between Dustin Rhodes and Malakai Black was probably just as good.