AEW Dynamite 2/8/2023

AEW Dynamite 2/8/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/aew-dynamite-1252023.html

MJF vs Konosuke Takeshita

I really didn't have any issues with this one. They didn't overdo it much and KT was fine as the face here.

MJF pushed the ref and hit KT with the Dynamite Diamond Ring after. KT was busted open with punches from the ring then Bryan Danielson made the save.

Samoa Joe did a promo talking about beating Darby last week. He said he was a worthy adversary but said Warlow was not. He said he took his title and scalp and asked what else does he want him to take? Joe said he will take everything from Wardlow if he tries to take his title. 

The Bunny vs Jamie Hayter

The commercial ate most of this up. Bunny took an exploder that was botched and landed on her head. Lots of stiff shots as usual from Jamie, but this wasn't anything special. There was a great Bunny camera shot here.

Toni Storm and Saraya were interviewed. They brought in Leva Bates, who hasn't appeared maybe ever on Dynamite and spray painted an L on her.

Lexi interviewed MJF in his locker room. MJF said he was good but not a generational talent like he is. He talked about being in high school and strongly implied that he was seeking an underage relationship. He then made sexual innuendo's. He then talked about getting into a car crash with his high school crush and said he switched seats with her to frame her for the car wreck once she was dead/knocked out it. He then said Danielson doesn't have what it takes to be a winner and said there would not be an iron man match. This was yet another horrible MJF promo where he tries way too hard and says all kinds of disgusting things to the point of them not even being believable.

Garcia-Guevara Gauntlet

Leg 1 - Angelo Parker vs Ricky Starks

Starks ended up winning this one in under 2 minutes.

Leg 2 - Matt Menard vs Ricky Starks

Starks immediately rolled him up to win.

Leg 3 - Ricky Starks vs Daniel Garcia

Garcia jumped him from the start and the match really slowed down. Starks speared Garcia on the apron then was hit by a fan in a mask. The masked man turned out be Jericho and Garcia picked up the win here.

This was a total waste of time and a joke.

Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed were interviewed. Billy said he will stay behind tonight and Max said he and Anthony got this. Bowens then said let's give the people what they want and they did the scissor pose.

Bryan Danielson was interviewed next to Konosuke Takeshita. The door was slammed shut then Bryan, the announcer and KT were stuck in there. In a clever twist, the idea here is that if Bryan loses by forfeit here, he doesn't get to fight MJF in the ironman.

Rush vs Bryan Danielson

MJF came out limping and said the match needed to start now. Danielson finally broke out of the door and ran to try and make it out. Aubrey the ref was counting slow and Bryan made it in time.

Rush jumped on him from the start and controlled the early part of this. They traded chops then Bryan took a rebound german and a shining wizard. Rush beat him up outside and Bryan was bleeding heavy. Bryan then took a sick belly to belly off the apron and blood flew on the camera. Rush walked away out of a tope, then stood in another spot and got tope'd. Bryan then dropkicked him against the rails and top rope dropkicked him.

They then just went back to fighting like usual and Bryan kicked out of a straghtjacket piledriver. They traded forearms, headbutts and slaps and Bryan ended up winning this.

I hated this one. They did way too much here and Bryan took a real beating yet you wouldn't know it at all by the way he fought here.

MJF then nailed Bryan with the Dynamite Diamond Ring after. MJF then armbarred him. 

Tony Schiavone interviewed people from a tv show called Practical Jokers. One of them had Jericho's baseball bat and said he was a diva when on the show. They said he wanted a "loofa scented candle". They invited him on the show tomorrow to see how he wants to deal with this.

AEW Trios Titles - The Elite vs Top Flight and AR Fox

This was the flippy nonsense you would expect with The Elite winning as expected.

We got some clips of Hook.

Stokeley Hathaway was interviewed. He said everything is good with The Firm and blamed all of its problems on Hook. Hook then walked up behind him and Stokeley pretended to be his friend. Hook grabbed arm and told him to be cautious with his words.

AEW Tag Titles - The Acclaimed vs The Gunn Club

The Gunns won here after a bunch of shenanigans with title shots to the head. It was a pretty short match with Billy Gunn getting involved and the ref taking a pretty crazy bump to the outside. It could and should have been longer with these two teams getting a chance to show they can hang in the main event. I'm not against the Gunn's winning it, but I don't know if the timing was right since the Acclaimed were so over. I've felt The Gunn's were ready for a while now and it's good to see them get rewarded for it though. I suppose there's more to come, so we will see what happens.

Overall thoughts: I wasn't a fan of this show and AEW in general is just in a down period right now. There's very few angles or stories going on and what we do have is predictable and not very good.