AEW Dynamite 7/26/2023

AEW Dynamite 7/26/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/07/aew-dynamite-7192023.html

AEW International Title - Orange Cassidy (c) vs AR Fox

Excalibur messed up the match rundown and they showed Darby's history with AR Fox. Darby lived in his own car then AR Fox's house as he had nowhere to live. AR then trained him amd Darby said he deserved a title shot because of this. I still don't get why AR just couldn't ask for the shot himself. OC will defend against anyone.

OC does his stupid routine to start, somehow not being able to kip up. AR helps him kip up like an idiot. AR body scissors him and OC puts his hands in his pockets and slides out. Must have been a bad body scissors. OC armdrags him with his hands in his pockets and OC kips down out of a shot and enzugiri's him.

OC takes a break outside then AR uses the post to moonsault onto him while on the apron. AR slingshots in and rolls him into a suplex but OC stunners him. AR cutters him off the bottom rope then catches OC's tornado ddt and twisting brainbusters him off of it for 2. We go to PiP break and return. OC dropkicks him in the knee and they trade boots to the chest. They boot each other at the same time and then neckbreaker each other at the same time in a new spot. AR has his head banged off the buckles. AR slingshot sentons him then tope con hilos him. AR top rope swantons him for 2. OC topes him and hits a tornado ddt. OC then hits a beachbreak for 2. AR does his seated spanish fly off the top for 2.

AR does a silly rolling thunder on him on the apron then ddt's him over the 2nd rope for 2. OC moves out of a 450 and crucifixes him for 2. AR kips down too early in a botch and is pinned.

I didn't like OC screwing around as usual. This is a title match with big money and prestige the line. I didn't understand why this had to go close to 17 minutes and the double neckbreaker and rolling thunder spots were dumb.

OC puts his sunglases on AR Fox after. AR break the sunglasses and decks him with a forearm. Ar then looks like he doesn't know what he did. Darby Allin comes down the ramp, pushing and yelling at him. Darby says that's embarassing and asks what was that. Dary then says, "get you @ss back there".

Jon Moxley then comes in the ring and lariats OC. He hits a death rider ddt. This was an odd turn of events. If anyone else wants to come beat up OC, I'm all for it.

We get a package on Blood and Guts.

Renee interviews Jericho and Don Callis. Don said he wants to arrange a tag match with Jericho and Takeshita as "The Family". Jericho says he's willing to give it a try. Callis said his opponents with be Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara. Callis says this is a perfect way for them to spread their wins and grow on their own. Jericho agrees. He then gives Jericho a painting of them posing in front of Bad News Brown in the heavens. Jericho says it's too big to carry and Don tells him to let him arrange it.

Hook is on a subway bench. He puts his title down and it disappears when the train comes by then he disappears when it comes by again.

CC and Yuta say don't play with fire or mess with the BCC. CC says if he thinks the beating he got was anything but the beginning, he's mistaken. Mox tells Lucha Bros and Best Friends to stay in their lane and says they will get hurt.

Tony Schiavone interviews Jungle Boy in the ring. JB has a shirt on that saysm "I beat Hook". JB says he beat Hook and said Hook realized he can't hang with the big boots and went on a train to nowhere. JB said when he said he was gonna win a title, it wasn't this one. He said the FTW Title was made in a 2nd class company, full of scumbags like the fans. He said the title became the real deal once he put his hands on it and said he's the best wrestler to ever get within 100ft of it. He said he'd run circles around Tazz and his friends back in the day too.

Jerry Lynn comes out and says, "That's enough, Jungle". JB says he's Jack Perry now. Lynn says they paved the way for this generation in ECW. He tells him to keep running his mouth as he will get his @ss kicked. JB says he'd like to see who is going to do that. Lynn drops his mic then JB says he's not dressed for a first. He said they will do this next week. Lynn agrees.

Britt Baker is interviewed. She said she was surprised Taya called her out and thanks her for it. She said if she wants to swim with the sharks, she will drag her to the deep end. She said she will remind everyone that TBS is "That Britt Show".

PAC vs Gravity

Pac's nickname is "the man gravity forgot" so there's an obvious joke here. Pac has a new tron and music and it plays for a while before he comes out. Pac says "it's me" to him and shows him that he is here in case he forgot him. Grav dropkicks him twice, forearms him and dropkicks him out.

Pac chases Grav around and dropkicks him through the ropes. Pac is thrown into the rails then powerslammed on the floor. Grav headstands on the apron and splashes him when he bounces from the ropes. We go to break and return. The BCC is shown watching in the back. Pac piefaces him and yells, "forget me not". Grav boots him in the corner then twisting top rope crossbodies him. Pac hits kicks and then superplexes him. Grav then taps out to the brutalizer.

It wasn't much and it went on longer than it needed to. The crowd didn't care and Grav had sloppy moments like usual. Grav also lost in his TV debut here in typical AEW fashion.

We see clips of MJF and Cole being interviewed last week. MJF said he liked FTR more when they were his lackeys. He said Cash has a mullet in 2023 and says he's tired of Dax's Mr. Clean/Yosemite Sam @ss. He said he will take his fist and punch him so hard that he will spit out CM Punk's jockstrap. MJF said they will win the tag titles. Cole said he wants to talk to MJF. He said this was originally all about winning gold but now it's about friendship. He said he never thought they would be friends and says he has nothing to worry about when it comes to the AEW title. Cole says his friendship means the world to him and says MJF is one of his best friends. MJF said win, lose or draw, he will give him a rematch for the title. Cole asks if he's serious. Roderick Strong comes in and pushes MJF, saying he's going to stab him in the back. Strong tells him he's got to be kidding him. Cole says he's acting insane and is pushing him away. Cole says he needs to trust him if he wants to be his friend. Strong grabs him and Cole says, "boundaries". Strong said he's making a big mistake.

We see clips of FTR being interviewed. Cash says he's excited about it but is bothered that Adam Cole is involved in this. He said he hates MJF and said MJF is a generational @ss kisser, while they are generational @ss kickers. Cash said everyone who is with MJF has left him including his fiance. Cash says they have to make sure MJF learns they don't mess with FTR. Dax says he's mad that MJF has a win over him. Dax says this is real life to him and said it's funny that he is making a mockery out of the AEW tag titles and  wrestling. Dax says they will have a fight. He says he will beat the sh!t out of MJF. He says he will rip his eyeballs out if he says something about his family.  

Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland

Darby slaps a headlock on then headlock takeovers him. Swerve tries to armdrag him but Darby counters into a headlock. Darby uses the ropes to armdrag Swerve. Swerve flips over the ropes off the apron then Darby code red's Swerve on the floor for a 2 count.

Swerve is sent into the steps and then Swerve jumps off the steps to back kick him. We go to PiP break and return. Swerve rolls into a flatliner then suplexes him. Swerve leapfrogs and Darby rolls under him with a pin attempt. Darby tries another pin for 2. Darby spears him off the apron to the floor.

Darby goes to tope him but Swerve jumping knees him. Swerve top rope double stomps him for 2. Swerve tries to powerslam him off the 2nd buckle but Darby turns it into a stunner. Swerve hits a 2nd rope F-U onto the apron. AR Fox in a hood comes down and puts Darby int othe ring post. Swerve then half nelson drivers Darby and wins.

Ar Fox beats up Darby and Nick Wayne comes to help. AR hits Nick with Darby's skateboard then Ar Fox joins the Mogul Embassy.

They didn't do too too much here as I expected them to. It was a flippy match but it was still okay. The finish at least wasn't without reason.

Renee is in the back the JAS, or what's left of it. Tay is wearing a belly shirt and her stomach is pregnant. They go into Jericho's locker room. Menard sees Jericho new painting. Jericho ask how Tay's baby is and Tay asks what's going on with him. Parker says Jericho gave him the comb but he's not giving it back yet. Parker says this crew means the world to him, but he's not sure anymore. Anna Jay says Jericho is being selfish and says they spent time appreciating him, but he doesn't appreciate them. Anna says until he appreciates them, they can't give him 100%. Jericho asks if they think this is easy for him and Menard says it is and he needs to figure it out fast. No problems with this at all.

Britt Baker vs Taya Valkyrie

Taya needs to win here and I don't think she will. Taya takes her down and uses the buckles to headlock takeover her. Taya tries to backdrop her out of it but Britt holds on. Taya stomps on her in the corner  and short arm lariats her. They try some kind of wheelbarrow spot and Britt gets dropped. Taya then hits mounted punches and elbows. We go to PiP break and return.

Taya misses a corner charge then Britt hits knees out of the cravate position. They trade forearms. Taya high kicks her then takes a missed superkick. Taya knees her in the head and hits a bad lariat for 2. Britt comes off the 2nd rope and takes a northern lights suplex. Taya then hits a bad panama sunrise for 2. Taya spears her then gets out of her move and lockjaws her. Britt wins by DQ.

It wasn't good. They had multiple sloppy moments and of course the panama sunrise could not be the finish. Taya also lost again here, further burying here.

Lethal, Dutt and Singh talking about becoming tag champs. Nana then says Bill and Cage will take the titles. Zay and Page say they get their hands on Lethal and Singh and get a chance at becoming tag champs. The Hardy's say they are back and back to win. Jeff says he's back from a healing process. This is for a tag team eliminator battle royale.

Buddy Matthews says Andrade will have to scale a ladder to hell if he wants the title back. He said everything he stands for will go down in flames. 

Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli vs The Lucha Brothers vs Best Friends

This is basically a random tag and not a good looking one at that. Best Friends and the Lucha Bros start fighting early. Trent topes CC then Mox is thrown into the steps but doesn't really go in. Mox chokes Chuck with a shirt and forearms him on the ramp. Chuck throws him off the stage then tope con hilos onto opponents on the floor.

CC hits punches on Chuck and throws him into the steps. Fenix and CC trade chops for forearms then Fenix springboard armdrags him. Everyone gets a move in during a sequence then Fenix takes a pop-up euro for 2.  Mox puts his knee over Fenix then CC lariats Fenix. Fenix superkicks him.

Trent takes down Fenix and pounds on him then tornado ddt's CC off of Fenix. Trent backdrops CC and is caught with a euro when trying to tope him. Mox hits a big lariat on Trent for 2. We go to PiP break and return. CC takes a top rope dropkick from Trent. Chuck chops Mox and Chuck hits a soul foot. Chuck germans Mox then Penta sling blades Chuck.

Penta goes up and over into a backcracker on Chuck. Trent is gorilla pressed into a Mox cutter then Fenix double springboards both BCC members. The BCC take superkicks then lariat Penta and Fenix over. Fenix back body drops CC over the top then the Lucha Bros take stereo piledrivers from the Best Friends.

The Lucha Bros tie up Best Friends and Penta hits a made in Japan on Trent. Mox ddt's Fenix and CC ricola bombs Chuck. Mox hits stomps on Trent and OC comes out as CC has Trent ready for a ricola bomb. OC comes down and orange punches Yuta then fights with Mox. Trent beach breaks CC and tries to pin him, but CC isn't the legal man. Fenix superkicks Trent and Penta package piledrivers Trent for the win.

Well, I didn't have the Lucha Bros winning here. This was your usual multi-man match. It wasn't awful and they didn't overdo it too much but it was nothing special.  Tags were adhered to and not adhered to here. I guess it did something to build up OC vs Mox.

Mox and OC fight after then Chuck and Penta trade shots. We are then told there will be an anything goes match between Mox, Trent and Penta next week. Everyone keeps fighting as we close the show.

Overall thoughts: The card was pretty weak tonight and it really wasn't anything special.