The Premiere of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite
Written by Alex Marco (@generalreaction)
On October 2nd, 2019 at 8pm Eastern Standard Time on TNT, AEW Wrestling premiered the first episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite. In front of a sold-out crowd inside the CapitalOne Arena in Washington DC, All Elite Wrestling’s weekly episodic wrestling program set off on its two-hour maiden voyage with the goal of forever changing the professional wrestling landscape. This first step on AEW’s path towards controlling the narrative of pro wrestling in the United States (and potentially worldwide) saw some excellent in-ring action, fantastic production value, and some shocking appearances that had the DC crowd jacked with excitement from start to finish. Before diving into the card for the premier episode of Dynamite I want talk a moment to appreciate the aforementioned fantastic production value that this show had. The opening video package, which you can watch by clicking here, was the perfect blend of heart-pounding music and stunning imagery designed to hype up the viewers at home. Needless to say I believe it succeeded. On commentary tonight we had the team of Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Excalibur to call the action.
The “American Nightmare” Cody vs. Sammy Guevara
The night kicked off with a one-on-one matchup between the American Nightmare, Cody, and Sammy Guevara. Before the match began, as would be the case throughout the evening, there was a promo package that provided the audience with some background on each of the combatants. Cody is set to challenge Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship on November 9th at the Full Gear pay-per-view event in Baltimore, MD. So this match was really set up to be sort of a “tune-up” match for Cody. Commentary during the match made sure to point out that if Cody were to take Guevara lightly and lose the match, that it would likely have a direct impact on the title bout set for Full Gear. For Guevara, this match was a chance for himself to show the crowd and viewing audience at home just what he was capable of in the ring. The match was pretty well-paced overall, doing its best no to overstay its welcome while giving both Cody and Guevara opportunities to shine throughout. The match came to an end when Cody got his knees up to counter a Shooting Star Press from Sammy Guevara, and then followed that up with a small package to seal the victory for himself. After the match, Guevara offered Cody a handshake as a sign of good sportsmanship. But while the American Nightmare was distracted, he was jumped from behind and attacked by Chris Jericho! Jericho spent the next five minutes or so assaulting Cody both inside and outside the ring, even going as far to smash Cody over the head with the AEW World Championship belt.
MJF vs. Brandon Cutler
The second match of the night pitted Maxwell Jacob Friedman, or “MJF” as he’s more commonly known, against Brandon Culter. As MJF made his way to the ring, he took his time to stop and mock the fans in attendance as well as his opponent. MJF has done some amazing work garnering heat for himself across social media by regularly insulting fans in the style of an old school, 1980s territory heel wrestler (think the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase mixed with some of The Rock during his time has the corporate champion). The match itself wasn’t much to write home about in all honesty, and was one of my very few gripes about the show overall. MJF won the match pretty handily as Cutler never seemed to really get his offense going. The “Salt of the Earth” was able to force Culter to submit to a Fujiwara armbar to pick up the win.
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Pac
Match number three on the premiere episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite featured Hangman Adam Page against Pac, in a matchup that fans had been waiting for since the Double or Nothing pay-per-view event back in May (when these two had been originally scheduled to clash). Adam Page was looking to rebound after a tough loss to Chriss Jericho in the main event of All Out one month ago. Pac, on the other hand, was looking to continue to build his momentum after he earned a shocking win over Kenny Omega at All Out. The match was hard-hitting, fast-paced, and played to the strengths of both wrestlers involved. Pac was able to display a more brawler-esque style during this match, something that those who’ve only known him for his work in NXT may not have been familiar with. Both men were able to get a lot of their signature spots in throughout the content, including a top-rope Fallaway Slam by Adam Page and gorgeous Black Arrow by Pac. The match concluded when Pac was able to hit Page with a low blow while the referee had his back turned, which then allowed Pac to hit the Black Arrow and then proceed to lock Page in the Brutalizer submission hold to secure the victory by referee stoppage. One has to assume that his early success in AEW so far has moved Pac into consideration for a future AEW World Championship opportunity somewhere down the road. For Hangman Page, only time will tell when (and how) he will be get back on track.
Riho vs. Nyla Rose for the Inaugural AEW Women’s Championship
The semi-final match of the evening saw Riho and Nyla Rose clash to earn the right to be called the first-ever All Elite Wrestling Women’s Champion. Riho earned her spot in this match by defeating Hikaru Shida at All Out last month, while Nyla Rose won a 21-woman Casino Battle Royale at the same event to secure her spot in this match. Almost every possible advantage was in favor of Rose when it came to this match. Rose is taller, stronger, and holds a significant weight advantage over Riho. Early on in the match Nyla Rose used that power advantage to full effect against her opponent, constantly maintaining firm control of the contest while preventing Riho from building up any momentum. Nyla would make two very costly mistakes in this match, both of which allowed Riho to turn the tide. The first took place when Rose laid out a pile of chairs outside of the ring, placed Riho on top of them, and attempted to crush the Japanese competitor with a somersault senton from the ring apron. Riho moved out of the way to avoid the move, and was able to land two firm double foot stomps of Nyla Rose (the first on the outside to Nyla’s midsection and the second to the back of Nyla inside the ring) to momentarily take control of the match. Rose’s second, and final mistake, in this match was releasing Riho from an STF submission hold without the referee calling for the bell to stop the bout. She instead seemed to want to end things with a top rope splash but before she could hit said move, Riho sprang to her feet and launched an attack against the “Native Beast” as she was perched on the turnbuckle. Riho amazingly managed to hit Nyla with a top rope Northern Lights suplex followed by a series of running double knee strikes to earn the victory via pinfall. Riho is now the first-ever AEW Women’s Champion.
The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) vs. Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz
The main event of the evening finally arrived and the fans waited with eager anticipation to see The Elite square off against the team of Chris Jericho and the men once known as LAX, Santana and Ortiz. Kenny Omega looked to gain a measure of revenge against Jericho after he was defeated by Y2J at Double or Nothing, and it goes without saying that The Young Bucks wanted a piece of Santana and Ortiz after the latter duo delivered a beatdown to the Jackson brothers at All Out. The Bucks and Omega looked to be in control early on, hitting some big moves and dictating a quick pace against the contingent of Jericho, Santana, and Ortiz. As the match spilled to the outside, Omega looked to deliver his “Rise of the Terminator” Swanton Dive over the top rope and onto the competitors huddled together at ringside. But before the “Best Bout Machine” could do so, Jon Moxley hit the ring and slowly crept up behind Kenny Omega. As Omega turned around to meet his adversary, Jon Moxley began to deliver an unrestrained assault on the leader of The Elite. Moxley would eventually throw Omega over the guardrail and the two began to brawl amongst the sold-out crowd. Their fight would soon spill into a “VIP” area for the fans where Moxley would put down Omega with a Deathrider DDT through a glass-top table, effectively making Omega a non-factor in the remainder of the match. Oh yes, there still was a main event going on back in the ring. After several attempts of struggling to reach his younger brother, Matt Jackson was finally able to make the hot tag to Nick as The Young Bucks tried to overcome a 3-on-2 numbers advantage in favor of Jericho, Ortiz, and Santana. Nick Jackson would rampage around the ring nailing all three of his opponents with a diverse array of offensive maneuvers. Just when it seemed like The Young Bucks might have victory in their sites, Chris Jericho caught Nick Jackson out of mid air with a Codebreaker as Nick and Matt were looking to deliver a Meltzer Driver. Nick would eventually fall victim to the Judas Effect elbow strike from Chris Jericho, leading to a victory for the AEW World Champion and his teammates. After the match Jericho, Ortiz, and Santana continued their beatdown on the Young Bucks until the American Nightmare Cody hit the ring to try and even the odds. Cody’s efforts would soon be nullified when Sammy Guevara hit the ring struck one of AEW’s Founding Fathers with a low blow. This then brough Dustin Rhodes out to the ring and full-on melee was underway. Just then, Jack Hager - the man once known formerly as Jack Swagger during his time with WWE - joined the fray and sided with the heel! Hager delivered a brutal Vader Bomb to Cody and hit his patented Gutwrench Powerbomb on Dustin Rhodes that drove the elder Rhodes brother through a table. What an exciting and unpredictable way to end the first episode of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.
Overall I’d give this event a grade of A-. There were countless positive things I had to say about this show after watching it, to the point where the number would be too great to list out here. Production value was top-notch and pay-per-view quality. The commentary team did a wonderful job calling the action. The matches, for the most part, were very good and well-received by the crowd in attendance. And I couldn’t find many problems with the show as a whole. I know that AEW Dynamite will go through its share of growing pains, but this inaugural outing has left me with high hopes for the future.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my review of the first-ever episode of AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. And a big thank you to my friends at Turn Tweener Wrestling for giving me the opportunity to contribute content to their website. You can visit them online at https://turntweener.wixsite.com/turntweenerblog to read up on the latest news regarding the world of professional wrestling, and be sure to check them out on Facebook and YouTube as well! Until next time, take care and go watch some pro wrestling.