AEW Dynamite 1/5/2022

AEW Dynamite 1/5/2022

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/aew-dynamite-12292021.html

AEW World Title - Adam Page (c) vs Bryan Danielson

Mark Henry, Jerry Lynn and Big Show are going to be the special judges.

Danielson immediately goes to stall after accusing Page of doing it 2 weeks ago. Page dived on him then powerbombed him against the apron outside. Then he tried to dive on him again and was throw into the rails. Danielson worked the arm a little and was suplexed on the floor.

Page bled after being tripped into the stairs. We went to break and came back with Bryan headbutting and then punching Page's wound. They banged each other's heads into the post and Page mocked Bryan's stalling. They went up top and headbutted each other then Page hit him with a top rope moonsault fallaway slam. Bryan then took a samurai driver on the floor.

Page hit an Orihara moonsault on him on the floo then got the flying knee for 2. They traded more headbutts and Bryan hit a Gotch style piledriver. Bryan took a hard backdrop on his neck. Page then won with a buckshot lariat soon after.

This is what the first match should have been. They bled and were violent with each other with lots of headbutts which fit the first match story better. This one would have made more sense as the technical classic though. Nonetheless, it wasn't a bad match and worked better than the first one. The armwork didn't end up really going anywhere here and the judges and time limit weren't a factor.

The Acclaimed promised us a music video for next week.

MJF vs Shawn Dean

CM Punk immediately came out to go after MJF after saying he didn't care about MJF anymore last week. Punk then hit Dean with the Go to Sleep and MJF was DQ'd. This made no sense. Why did the match start when MJF wasn't in the ring and Punk was?

They argued on the mic after and MJF said he thought Punk was done with him. MJF ripped Punk for not main eventing a Wrestlemania and said if the fans don't respect him, he might main event a Mania too. Punk then said he wanted to beat him up. MJF teased taking on Punk in a match next week but then it would be Wardlow instead next week. Punk then agreed to that match for no real reason.

They announced Sammy vs Cody for the TNT Title at the Battle of the Belts show.

Chris Jericho came out to talk. He said he didn't come out last week to save Eddie, but to get revenge on 2.0. 2.0 came out and he called them Terrance and Phillip. Jericho called them squarehead and pinhead. Daniel Garcia helped jump Jericho and the Inner Circle and Eddie Kingston made the save. This was not good.

They talked about Jake Atlas debuting and Undisputed Era did a promo. Cole challenged Atlas.

Wardlow vs Antonio Zambrano

Shawn Spears death valley drivered Antonio on the floor and Wardlow wasn't happy about it. Wardlow hit a bunch of powerbombs and won it. This was done to slow burn the Wardlow turn.

AEW TBS Championship - Jade Cargill vs Ruby Soho

I really like Ruby's theme. Ruby shotgun dropkicked Jade off the apron and it looked like it hurt her a lot more than Jade.Ruby rolled outside then Mercedez Martinez came down. Thuder rosa came out after her and they brawled. Ruby's shoulder started bugging her and they worked that a bit. Mark Sterling was kicked out of ringside. They did a top rope avalanche double chicken wing bomb that looked awful for the Jade Cargill win. This wasn't good. It went too long and Ruby did not make Jade look good at all. I don't mind them doing it because Jade isn't going to get better if she doesn't work longer matches, but the process isn't always the most fun to watch.

Serena Deeb was interviewed by JR on Shida.

Malakai Black vs Brian Pillman Jr.

Black won with a spinning high kick. This was a dud that was mostly taken over by a commercial. Black teased going after Julia Hart but the Lucha Bros came out to stop it and Black teleported out. This was atleast the 4th teleport in AEW history after Shaq, The Elite in the trailer and Darby at one point.

Ruby was interviewed by Tony then Britt Baker and her crew ran in. Ruby got jumped and Riho saved her.

Aaron Solow vs Hook was announced for Dynamite and Solow told him "stretch me if you can, survive if I let you".

AEW World Tag Titles - The Lucha Brothers vs Jungle Express

I thought it should be noted that J-E won two whole matches since September and one was a squash.

They did a stupid spot where all 4 men were hooked on each other and one from each team ran up the ropes, sat down and flipped the other person into an armdrag. JB hit a diving canadian destroyer here which only was worth 2, of course. Saurus then got his with one that was only worth 2. The lights went out while JB was about to get destroyed then JB kicked out of a springboard double stomp package piledriver. Alex set a able up outside and Christian chased him. Saurus chokeslammed Rey through the table off the apron and it looked like Rey broke his arm in it. JB then won with a reversal out of a Made in Japan out of nowhere to win the titles. Some of the tag teams came out after on the stage to stare them down.

This was awful and sloppy. The lights randomly went out. Rey Fenix likely got hurt and Jurassic Express winning the titles with no real story to it on a random episode of Dynamite ruined JB's first title win.

Overall thoughts: I liked the world title match though I wouldn't say it was a MOTY or anything like that. Everything after that sucked though. The Punk/MJF segment sucked, Jade sucked, Black teleporting sucked and the main sucked, got someone injured and was a waste of JB's first title win.