The show opens with a hard hitting opening followed by a huge pyro display. Hearing JR’s voice as a full building goes crazy with signs as far as you can see is giving off huge 90’s wrestling vibes. Alongside Excalibur and Tony Schiavone, we head into the AEW debut match!
Cody vs Sammy Guevara
Cody’s rises from the bottom of the stage alongside his wife Brandi. Let’s see if the rising stage is a constant thing of if Cody gets the Triple H entrance every week. Good to see they had the foresight to leave Pharoh in the back this time. Seeing how big Cody is feels rewarding to watch considering this all happened because he dared to bet on himself.
Sammy Guevara looks like a small child, especially with that panda hood on. He impressed in Lucha Underground, so I’m expecting him to hold his own against AEW’s EVP.
Huge “Sammy sucks” chants. This crowd is giving this match a big fight feel already. Hopefully this translates to Sammy being popular in his own right. Both guys are showing off their strengths, as Cody focuses more on traditional wrestling and Sammy relies on his agility. Guevara shows off his lack of sportsmanship with a slap, followed by Cody responding in kind before pulling off a figure four. Sammy gets the ropes as the crowd erupts in a “let’s go Cody” chant. Cody overpowers Sammy in the corner with a series of open hand chops, then follows up with a delayed front suplex. Cody lets his arrogant side show with some Scott Steiner style push-ups. Sammy rallies briefly before Cody hits a springboard cutter for a two-count. Sammy hits a springboard cutter of his own from the apron with similar results. The announcers are heavily emphasizing the importance of wins and losses, emphasizing the importance of every match. Good move on their part!
As Sammy rolls out of the ring, Cody goes for a toupe before his opponent pulls Brandi in the way. Huge “asshole” chants from the crowd. Sammy then takes control, missing two moonsaults before hitting a standing shooting star press. Guevara gets knocked onto the middle rope, allowing Brandi to get some revenge by slapping him. Cody hits a Disaster Kick that turns Sammy inside out, but only results in a two! The two climb to the top rope, leading to Cody hitting a reverse suplex, also for a two! Both Cody and Brandi are selling the urgency of the match as we enter its last 10 minutes, with Sammy being pushed as a resilient dickhead. Cody climbs again, but Sammy leaps up to the top rope and hits a top rope Spanish Fly! Sammy climbs to the top one last time for a top rope Shooting Star Press, but gets the knees up and turns it into a cradle for the win! An unexpected, but earned finish. I probably would have made Cody look a little more dominant by hitting his move for the win, but I liked the creativity of the finish! Hopefully this means that the weekly show will have some unexpected, avoiding formulaic approaches to the matches.
Tony Schiavone enters the ring to interview an emotional Cody, but Sammy pulls him in before reaching for a handshake. This supposed show of sportsmanship ends up being a distraction as Chris Jericho hits the ring and beats Cody down before holding his belt up high.
Interesting note: When the angle ended and the first commercial started, the commercial played in a slightly larger window while the replays and footage during the commercial continued to play off to the side. This is a great way to stand out, since while WWE will do the same during a match, AEW is letting us see what home audiences would typically miss during breaks. Let’s hope this is a constant thing! It gives the home audience a reason to stay on the channel while live audiences won’t be forced to sit in the dark for 3 minutes while the wrestlers stand around pretending not to move.
The break ends as Jericho powerbombs Cody onto two chairs. This is a REALLY long beatdown! Jericho walks away and cuts a promo introducing himself with his Bubbly shirt in full view, (nice touch with the Bubly commercial by the way).
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Brandon Cutler vs. MJF
The Twitter D&D feud comes to a head after Maxwell Jacob Friedman became the biggest heel in the nerd-verse after saying he doesn’t play it. MJF is quickly met with his own “asshole” chants as he introduces himself to the viewers. A brief exchange ends with Cutler backflipping over MJF followed by a disrespectful slap. He then hits what I can only describe as a Canadian Sunset Flip before MJF thumbs him in the eye and takes control. The fight spills to the outside with Cutler hitting a toupe followed by some mounted punches. Apparently, Cutler hurt his knee from the dive and loses his balance at the top rope. He charges into the corner, but MJF holds the referee in the way. He takes Cutler down, slaps on the Salt of the Earth, (an armbar variation), for the tapout. The finish felt like it came out of nowhere and didn’t play into the injured leg at all. Also, Cutler’s knee injury came off as him just losing his balance, making the finish fall flat. Good overall, but nothing special.
Turns out the dual screen commercial breaks is an occasional thing. We’re back to full screen commercials after that match.
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes being interviewed about the Jay and Silent Bob reboot starring Jericho! I hope he got a thank you out of it!
Jack Evans and Anjelico interrupt them and mock Morris Day and the Time. Mewes points out that they should run their mouths less and focus on winning a match. Private Party comes to the actors’ defense, surely setting up a match down the line.
SoCal Uncensored cuts a pre-taped promo pretending to be Obama and the Secret Service, (who would have known Scorpio Sky can do such a great Obama impersonation?), before declaring, as expected, that DC is “The Worst Town They’ve Ever Been In!” Tony then interviews them, where Scorpio announces that Christoper Daniels and Frankie Kazarian will be representing the group in the upcoming tag team tournament, giving them the experience edge. The Lucha Bros interrupt, declaring that they’re the greatest tag team in the universe. Pentagon Jr declares they have “Cero Miedo” as the two teams begin to brawl.
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Hangman Page vs PAC
We’re finally getting the match we were supposed to get at Double or Nothing! Page gets the pyro treatment, as all cowboys should. By the way, there’s something hilarious about PAC being announced as “The Bastard”, even if it’s his actual nickname.
After the latest commercial break, PAC slides into the ring from the outside and hits a head kick. The two go back and forth with progressively powerful strikes before Page finally takes PAC down with a huge lariat. A huge “Cowboy Shit” chant breaks out as Page beats PAC down outside the ring. Page hits a suicide dive and throws PAC into the ring. PAC eventually regains control after hitting a quebrada to the outside. A springboard splash only gets a two, leading to PAC going for the submission that he beat Kenny Omega with at All Out. PAC goes up top, but Page follows him up before landing a top rope fall away slam. PAC launches Page as hard as possible into the post as we go to our second screen-in-screen commercial break. The actual match is still going as the commercial plays, so my sentiment about not missing the action during commercials is already a wash. Let’s just hope PAC is still in control when the break ends so it wouldn’t have created a situation where you miss the momentum shift.
And good! PAC is still in control as the show comes back from break. Page rallies with a spinebuster and rolls through as he attempts the Deadeye, (in a way where it looked like PAC reversed it into a Sunset Flip and gave up halfway through). Page counters a top rope attack with a discus forearm, which leads to a moonsault to the outside and the Buckshot Lariat. As Page looks like he’s closing in on the win, PAC pulls Earl Hebner in the way and hits him with a low blow. PAC pulls in Page to the corner and hits the Black Arrow on Page on the back before winning with the Brutalizer submission, closing out a very good match!
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Britt Baker comes out for commentary as we head into our first ever AEW championship match between Nyla Rose and Riho. I hope Britt appearing doesn’t give away the ending of this match, with the babyface commentator confronting the victorious heel, (Nyla), in the post-match segment. Match introductions are being handled like a big championship match, which is always cool to see for the women.
Riho takes control early by using her speed to out-maneuver the much larger Rose. Riho slides out from under a pin and goes for a double stomp, but Nyla stands up with Riho on her back, leaving Riho looking scared at the idea that her offense isn’t working. Nyla overwhelms Riho with a series of slams and a delayed suplex. Nyla hits a brutal looking spinning elbow into the ropes, but when she goes for another one, Riho hits a pair of Kenny Omega-esque knees. Riho climbs to the top and dives onto Nyla, but Rose caught her low in an impressive display of strength! Then… Nyla goes for a chair? Why? If she hits Riho with it, she’ll be disqualified and lose the title match! The ref saves Nyla’s chances by stripping the chair from her, but now Nyla is piling chairs ont the floor. Isn’t this still going to be a DQ? Riho better let Nyla hit her with them. But of course… Nyla goes for a Senton and Riho moves, sending Nyla crashing down to her own chairs. Riho nails a double stomp of of the stairs as the competitors climb back into the ring. Riho hits one more stomp to the back for a two count, which the crowd seemed to have bought as a false finish. The crowd is coming alive with a Riho chant as we go to our third picture to picture break of the show.
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During the break, Riho has Nyla in a crossface submission and goes for a crucifix before Nyla reverses it into a Samoan Drop. Riho gets hung up on the top rope, then Rose hits a violent knee drop from the corner for a two. This is the opposite of the last two breaks where important developments are taking place during the break. That’s a page from WWE’s book that you DON’T want to take.
Riho goes for a backdrop on her opponent, (that weighs over double her size), but collapses under the weight. Kind of a scary spot that they really didn’t need to try. Riho keeps trying to rally, but Nyla keeps stopping her. A great looking roll up convinces the crowd that Riho won the match, but Nyla kicks out at 2.99! The crowd is losing their minds as Riho continues to fight back. Nyla climbs to the top rope, but Riho chases after her. Loud “AEW” chants in the crowd! It’s really picking up here. Riho hits a Northern Lights Suplex from the top rope for a 2! Riho misses a knee to the front, but spins around to hit one to the back followed by double knees to the front for the win! Riho becomes the first ever AEW Women’s World Champion in the best match of the night and one of AEW’s best in its brief tenure! I thought this was an incredible underdog match that was rough at points, but the story that it told was fantastic. The last five minutes in particular was an incredible back and forth battle, making Riho’s win feel earned.
Michael Nakazawa runs into the ring to interview Riho on behalf of the Japanese fans, but Nyla hits the ring and hits Nakazawa with a Double-Clutch Liger Bomb, (which was probably them covering for Nyla almost dropping Nakazawa). Rose tries to brutalize Riho, but KENNY OMEGA RUNS OUT FOR THE SAVE! Is this setting up a Kenny versus Nyla feud? That would be incredibly intriguing, if not a bit problematic. We’ll see where this goes, but Nyla’s feud with Riho seems far from over.
We’re heading straight into the main event with a Being The Elite themed entrance!
The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho and LAX
Kenny’s getting his cardio in after running out, back, then out again! Also, I’ll never not laugh on Jericho using nicknames he made up in New Japan against opponents he finished feuding with months ago. Anyway, the match gets underway, with a tease of Jericho versus Omega before Santana gets tagged in. Jericho sneaks a tag and goes for the Walls of Jericho on Kenny, but the Bucks immediately hit a double superkick before doing a double dive to the outside. Kenny prepares for a dive, but Moxley runs in from behind! Kenny knows something is up, but it’s too late. Moxley starts beating down Kenny and drags him into the crowd. The Bucks are now in a three-on-two situation, but the focus has completely left the match and is following Mox and Kenny. Omega fights back with a mop after wiping down the floor, (as The Cleaner. Get it!?) Moxley soon gets control of the fight, which spills into the VIP area. Moxley then… hits the Paradigm Shift DDT through a glass table!? That explains the staph infections.
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We come back from the last break with LAX in control of the Young Bucks. It’s safe to say we won’t see Omega anymore for the rest of the night. Nick is swept off the apron as Matt goes for a tag, then LAX hits a series of combination attacks for the two. Jericho tags in but is taken down by Matt. Ortiz tags back in and takes down Nick as he climbs back onto the apron. Matt hits a corkscrew stunner out of the corner, but Santana tags in and once again stops the tag. Matt hits the multiple Northern Lights Suplex on Ortiz, then ducks Santana’s attack into a double Northern Lights! Nick gets the hot tag and runs wild on all three opponents, including a soccer kick, a dive and a double stomp in the span of about 10 seconds. Nick tags in Matt, but Jericho gets the blind tag and lands a sudden Codebreaker. LAX hit Matt with one more double-team attack, then throws Matt into Jericho for the Judas Effect for the win.
LAX and Jericho beat down the Bucks after the match, but Cody runs down for the save! He fights off Jericho and LAX, but Sammy Guevara runs down and shrugs before hitting Cody with a low blow! Dustin Rhodes, (complete with face paint, just in case you need to suddenly run in to save your younger brother), runs in for the second save, but then Jake Hager, (the former Jack Swagger, or as JR referred to him, “Jake Hager of Bellator fame)”, keeps the odds in the heels’ favor. Loud “We The People” chants break out as The Elite are decimated. Dustin is hit with a painful looking gut wrench powerbomb through a table that doesn’t quite break! With the heroes destroyed, LAX, Sammy, Jake and Jericho stand tall as the first episode of AEW Dynamite comes to an end.
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Final Thoughts:
At the end of the first match, I said I hoped Sammy didn’t get lost after that debut. I’m so happy that it looks like he’s going to be in a top heel stable alongside Jericho. Everyone knows about MJF’s bright future, but I’m stoked to see where Sammy goes from here.
I joked about Cody’s special entrance, but he ended up being the only one to get one. Not that I mind, but it will surely amplify the naysayers calling this Cody’s vanity project. Not that they’d be likely to be convinced by anything.
The matches tonight were on point. PAC and Page delivered big, as did Cody and Sammy. The final tag match was insane in an old WCW kind of way. Hopefully this won’t be a constant thing or it might wear thin, but as the end of a debut episode, it was fantastic insanity.
The match of the night though, had to be the women’s match. It had its issues, mostly due to the nonsensical attempt to use a blatant chair shot, but when the match picked up, there was not a person in the arena in their seats. Riho winning was a shocker, and the teased angle between Nyla and Kenny will give us something to think about in the weeks to come. My only worry with that is with the influx of transphobic hate thrown at Nyla as it is, moving her into a feud with a man so soon into her run will surely raise eyebrows. We’ll see where this goes.
Who would have thought that Jack Swagger of all people would be the big surprise as a new major promotion went off the air? And that people would be losing their minds over it!? Let’s hope that “Bellator’s own” will shine in ways that he wasn’t allowed to in the past, much like Cody himself.
Overall, this show had a real Nitro / Raw Is War feel in the way that there was constant insanity. The pacing was off a bit, with the first half being promo heavy and the second half being match heavy, but with some fine tuning, AEW could find itself at the top of its game so soon into its TV run. Especially when you compare the improvements of this show compared to some of the shoddy production during the online shows.
That’s a wrap for the debut! Let us know if you enjoyed the recap, as we’ll continue to follow this show on a weekly basis.