Dynamite Details from 6/22/2022

 

It’s Thursday morning! After a successful phone screening so I can start making some money (at least until this thing takes off), I’m ready to talk some wrestling with you, my loyal if silent audience. The build to Forbidden Door came to a head with Wednesday’s show, and I believe the card for the pay per premium live event has been finalized. Let’s get to it!

A video recap of Road Rager was followed by Bryan Danielson’s theme, and AEW went with the rare opening talky segment to start Dynamite. Danielson hyped Forbidden Door and Blood and Guts before he admitted that he won’t be taking part in either, because he hasn’t been medically cleared. He’s still healthy, though, so we won’t need to worry. (I will still worry.) 

Bryan said Eddie Kingston has called him a judgmental prick in the past, and he admitted to it. Danielson has found a replacement to take his place in both Blood and Guts and in the match against Zack Sabre, Jr. at Forbidden Door. BUT! He came out of the bad guy tunnel, so he wouldn’t say who it is. Sabre, Jr. then arrived, but didn’t say anything and that was the end of the segment.

I won’t say I’m not bummed that Danielson isn’t gonna wrestle at Forbidden Door; I know Danielson versus Sabre at this stage of their careers would be amazing. Long term health is more important than a wrestling match, though. Hopefully this can be an annual affair and we won’t have to wait too long for that matchup!

A backstage segment with Jon Moxley was next, as he talked up Blood and Guts and his team up with Tanahashi later tonight. Tonight is business, Sunday it’s personal.

Opening Contest: Roppongi Vice and Orange Cassidy versus Aussie Open and Will Ospreay, trios match

The good guys were aggressive and took charge early, and we went to commercial after a  fantastic overhead shot of Trent, Rocky Romero, and Orange Cassidy diving out of the ring simultaneously at their opponents. Trent took a beating during that picture-in-picture break, but tagged Cassidy in right as we were returned to the action. Cassidy hit his calf shattering kick combo and a double hurricanrana on Aussie Open before calling out Ospreay. That led to chaos, as Roppongi Vice and Orange cleared the ring and hit diving attacks on their opponents once again. Things deteriorated into an “everybody hits a move one on one” sequence that culminated in Cassidy dodging a great looking Will Ospreay attack. Orange hit Fletcher of Aussie Open with the Orange Punch, and got the 1-2-3.

After the match, Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan strode to the ring, but FTR joined Trent, Rocky, and Orange to represent AEW in the ring as the baddies begged off. 

Three stars! A fun trios match to start the wrestling portion of our wrestling program. Everybody got to do some cool stuff, and I especially liked a lot of the camera work during this contest. A nice lead in to Sunday’s triple threat match between FTR, Roppongi Vice, and United Empire.

A quick backstage segment had Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh issuing a challenge to Samoa Joe: either relinquish the Ring of Honor TV Title, or tape up that shoulder and defend it.

Tony Schiavone was in the ring with Christian Cage to get some answers about Cage’s heel turn on Jungle Boy last week. Cage, obviously evil in black jeans and a black turtleneck, spent a little time belittling Milwaukee and trying to shut them up before he gave a number of reasons for his betrayal. Jungle Boy eliminated Cage from a Casino Battle Royale last year, costing Cage a roster bonus and a world title shot. He then chose to mentor Jungle Boy after reading social media to see that those people shared their dumb opinions on his career choices (guilty). He wanted the easy paycheck that came with hitching his wagon to Jungle Body, who has talent but no killer instinct. “That would be like me pulling up to the drive thru and telling you how to do your job” was a fantastic line. 

Schiavone asked about the clip circulating on social media after the match, in which Cage told Jungle Boy’s mom and sister that they raised a piece of s**t. Cage said Jungle Boy’s mom was actually sweet on him, and wanted Cage to be JB’s daddy…but his dad is DEAD. 

Luchasaurus headed out and started choking Cage before Cage talked him down by mentioning Marko Stunt, and convincing Luchasaurus that they needed to talk, just not here. 

Dramatic! Will Luchasaurus turn heel too? Is Cage gonna murder Luchasaurus in a hotel room and sell him to the guys who run Jurassic Park? WHO’S TO SAY?

A brief video of Sting’s return on Rampage led to a video backstage with the Young Bucks and Kyle O’Reilly. The Bucks are rejoining the Bullet Club for one night only at Forbidden Door, where they will team up with Hikule'o and El Phantasmo against Sting and whatever pals he can find.

Match  #2: Malakai Black versus Penta Oscuro, All-Atlantic Championship qualifier

The winner of this match will join Tomohoro Ishii, Miro, and PAC in a four way match at Forbidden Door for the new All-Atlantic Championship.

The match was a fantastic back and forth, counter heavy affair between these two dark forces who have become very familiar. Penta nailed a rolling stunner from outside that was just amazing. Later in the match, a vicious looking running knee to Penta’s chin knocked him out of the ring, and Black followed with a moonsault and, after rolling Penta back into the ring, a coup de gras. Penta recovered and hit an avalanche Fear Factor but Black was close enough to the ropes to break a pin attempt. A spinning back heel kick by Black (I should really know if it’s still the Black Mass) from outta nowhere got Malakai Black the win. 

PAC headed to the ring to stare Malakai down and tend to his stablemate when a video from Miro played. Miro will walk through the Forbidden Door, dragging bastards and pagans with him. He will spit in the face of God and redeem them all!

Four stars! Despite the possibly too long feud between House of Black and Death Triangle, these two can really put on a brutal show. They did exactly what a pair that has been engaged with each other almost a year should be doing - attacking, countering, and escalating things to dangerous heights. A blast to watch! I think either man would have done well in that four way match at Forbidden Door, but I prefer Malakai as Penta and PAC don’t need any infighting in Death Triangle. I could see Black winning but I’m pulling for Miro personally.

Wardlow was featured in a highlight video package as he called out Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship, whenever Sky is healthy enough to enter Wardlow’s World.

Match #3: “Hangman” Adam Page versus Silas Young

Adam Cole joined the commentary table for this match. Young is a two time Ring of Honor Television Champion, and a longtime rival of Page. He looks like a less-hairy, less tattooed The Butcher, if you need a visual in your head. 

As an aside, would a quick video showing Young doing stuff in RoH have hurt here? It feels like AEW assumes a very strong knowledge base among its fans, but maybe I’m just in the minority because I only follow AEW and WWE. Either way, AEW literally owns the Ring of Honor video library. I will teach myself video editing and put these things together for you, Tony Khan. You just shoot me an email and I’m on it.

But I digress! The best thing about this match was that their actions told the story Adam Cole and Excalibur alluded to. Multiple counters and dodges let the viewers know that Page and Young have a history, and Young busted out a number of cool high flying moves you might not expect to see from a guy his size. Silas even got half the crowd chanting for him about halfway through the match. An amazing top rope handstand springboard splash by Young was countered with a German suplex from “Hangman”, and the Buckshot lariat finished things with a pinfall victory for Page.

Three stars! A good warmup for Page against a rival I’ll have to learn more about. Silas Young was great as a surprise opponent for an already self-doubting Page, and their even match showed that Page has a ways to go before he’s ready to challenge for the AEW championship again.

Cole stood up from commentary to announce Storytime with Adam Cole BAYBAY (™), but he was quickly interrupted by Switchblade Jay White. White said he gave it a lot of thought, and as the Catalyst of Professional Wrestling he is responsible for making Forbidden Door as big as it can be. He can’t allow Cole to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, because Cole has lost to Page twice. He then entered the ring and said it can’t be Hangman, either, and that led to a brawl! Cole jumped in but was dumped outside, but Page was knocked down and Cole hit a low blow from the outside. White hit some mounted punches while Cole lined one or both other men up for a belt shot. White caught him and started calling Cole out when we got the trademark coin drop of the Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada. The good guys cleared the ring and we have a four way match for the IWGP belt on Sunday!

A pair of interviews followed. First, Stokely Hathaway announced that Red Velvet has been injured and a new Baddie would be needed. I assure you, my resume has already been submitted. 

Kris Statlander and Athena then mocked the Baddie recruitment, because they have Willow Nightingale on their team.

Match #4: Marina Shafir (w/Nyla Rose) versus Toni Storm

Shafir, in real life, accused Thunder Rosa of “sandbagging her'' during their match last week. Obviously, I have no inner knowledge of that kind of thing, but Shafir did look better in this week’s match. I don’t want to believe that a woman who owns a women’s wrestling promotion would do anything to make another wrestler look bad, so I will choose not to unless some damning evidence says otherwise. 

Marina had a good match here, hitting Storm with a pump kick to the chest and immediately trying several submissions. Toni was sent out of the ring, where a waiting Nyla Rose hit her with a senton to send us to commercial. A punch fight broke out afterward, ending with a Toni Storm headbutt. They ended up back outside the ring, where a missed kick into the stairs by Shafir led to Storm hitting a hurricane DDT. Back inside, Storm hit a German suplex and a vicious hip attack in the corner. Shafir managed to recover, but her pumphandle was reversed into a rollup for a pinfall for Storm.

Immediately, Storm was attacked by Shafir and Nyla Rose, but Thunder Rose came out to help Storm, who clocked Nyla with the belt before staring at it longingly and returning it to the champ.

Two stars. Storm continues to get more comfortable every week, and Shafir did her part as the MMA heel. The match was a little slow and clunky at times, but by no means unwatchable or anything like that. 

Darby and Sting were backstage to announce Bullet Club will be facing Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Sting, and Darby Allin - the Dudes with Attitude (no, really, this was on the graphic they showed. I love it so much!)

Rey Fenix spoke with Alex Abrahantes and challenged Andrade El Idolo to a match on Rampage, and Andrade accepted in a separate video. Looks like we’ll have to watch Rampage! (spoiler: I was already gonna watch Rampage)

Main Event: Chris Jericho and Lance Archer versus Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi

A straight up brawl erupted after the bell, with Mox and Jericho slugging it out ringside while Archer and Tanahashi traded strikes in the ring. Jericho tagged in and ate a splash from Tanahashi before Mox tagged in, and they resumed punching until Mox took a bite out of Jericho!

Some back and forth followed, as both teams went in and out and Tanahashi looked great against everybody, even ducking a Judas effect. Mox was able to hit a Paradigm Shift on Archer to put him down, and Tanahashi followed with a frog splash to get the pinfall victory.

A huge brawl closed the show, as members of the Blackpool Combat Club and Jericho Appreciation Society spilled into the arena. Minoru Suzuki made his return to AEW to attack Wheeler Yuta and chaos ensued while Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi stood face to face in the ring, screaming at one another as we faded out.

Three stars! Another good match to introduce us filthy casuals to Tanahashi, everyone looked great in the brawl and the good guys won. 

And that’s it! As far as a go home show, Dynamite was a little uneven. We set up the full Forbidden Door card, and got nice pops for the New Japan talent we hadn’t seen yet like Tanahashi and Okada. I still would have liked some kind of primer on the talent we will see on Sunday, so I think I will stop complaining that I wasn’t provided one and instead put one together myself!

Before I watch hours of Japanese wrestling, though, let’s go through Five Good Things about tonight’s Dynamite!

1- The trios match between CHAOS and the United Empire was a good time, and a fun way to introduce Orange Cassidy to Will Ospreay. Ospreay is a generational talent, and I look forward to seeing what these two very different wrestlers can do together on Sunday.

2- Evil Christian Cage was everything you’d want in a heel Christian promo! He had some long and short term reasons for turning on Jungle Boy, and he was able to talk his way out of being murdered by a dinosaur on live television. No small feat! I don’t know what’s gonna happen next in this storyline aside from the obvious Cage versus Jungle Boy match down the line, and that’s always fun to me as a wrestling fan.

3- Malakai Black and Penta Oscuro had another amazing match, this one with actual stakes. I like the complimentary styles and absolute violence these two are willing to inflict on one another, and the storytelling in their reversals at the beginning of their match was a great touch. That four way at Forbidden Door is gonna be a blast!

4- Page versus Young and the promo that followed was entertaining and got us an IWGP championship match at Forbidden Door. Hangman’s match with Silas Young was a good solid match between old rivals, and much like Penta and Black they really made sure you knew it with their storytelling in the ring.

It’s a tough call to book the Forbidden door match! One on one championship matches are fantastic, but this may be a once in a lifetime chance to book AEW and NJPW talent together. Both companies obviously want to put as many performers on the show as possible. I think the inclusion of Okada can’t possibly hurt the match, and if we’re not getting a singles contest this should be a fun replacement.

5- The main event and the mayhem that closed the show were a great way to lead into Forbidden Door, showcasing Tanahashi and allowing the many wrestlers who are gonna be involved in the pay per premium live event a chance to shine.

So yeah, I’m gonna spend the rest of the day watching some matches featuring the talent that will be on Forbidden Door, and I’ll put together a pre show watchlist for you, dear reader. That will probably hit the blog Friday or Saturday. We learn best when we learn together! 

I’ll definitely be back tomorrow with Casual Friday, featuring a new pup that we’re temporarily watching until she finds a forever home. And some wrestling conversation, as well! Sunday I’ll post my Forbidden Door predictions, and Monday we’ll have a full recap of that monumental event!

I appreciate you stopping by, and would love it if you drop your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also follow me on Twitter @ElOsoPequeno, where I try to remember to post whenever I update the blog. I write a Raw Recap on Tuesdays, Dynamite Details on Thursdays, and the Rampage report with a Side of SmackDown highlights on Saturdays. I also plan to write about any other wrestling that I happen to watch. There’s also a weekly wrap up on Fridays, and I’ll do predictions before any big AEW or WWE pay per premium live events. 

Have a good one!