AEW Dynamite 1/31/2024

AEW Dynamite 1/31/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/01/aew-dynamite-1242024.html 

We see the CMLL luchadores in the front row who will be on Collision.

Jon Moxley vs Jeff Hardy

Jeff pounds on him in the corner then takes corner punches. Mox is back body dropped over the top then Jeff lariats him off the apron. Jeff chokes him with one of his towels and we are told the rules are relaxed for this. Mox topes him and lariats him while he's on the rail.

Mox release suplexes him then ties up his legs with a headscissors. Jeff back body drops him then is thrown hard into the buckles. Jeff's neck is catapulted into the bottom rope. Jeff is thrown into the post and they fight outside. JEff is sent into the rails.

Mox is thrown into the front row and scuffles some with the luchadores, giving Hechicero the middle finger. Jeff throws a chair at Mox. Jeff jumps off the steps and takes a forearm. We go to PiP break and return. They are fighting up top.

Mox twists a pen into Jeff's earlobe then Jeff basement drokicks him off the apron. Jeff atomic drops him and legdrops him in the gut. Mox hits downward elbows then piledrivers him. Mox does Jeff's dance and Jeff hits a twist of fate on the apron. Jeff hits a whisper in the wind off the top.

Jeff pendulum dropkicks him in the corner and they fight up top again. Mox superplexes him. They trade punches and Mox cutters him. Jeff russian legsweeps him then hits a twist of fate. Jeff hits another then misses a top ropw swanton bomb. Mox puts him in a grounded choke and wins via chokeout.

I'm not a big fan of long opening matches. I thought this went longer than it needed to. It was okay and Jeff's best performance in a while. I don't know if he's just setting up matches a certain way to hide his weaknesses but he is not the Jeff Hardy that was falling over and botching stuff last year.

Mox tries to give him a handshake and Jeff gives him the "up yours" taunt.

 

Mox taunts the CMLL luchadores and they get in the ring. Mox fights them and is rightfully group stomped. The locker room and not the BCC, eventually stop this. I'm not even sure who the one guy who came out to help was. I didn't get really get this angle. Mox provoked the luchadores and got beaten up for it.

Dealer's Choice - Adam Page vs Toa Liona

 

We see the same Adam Page promo from Collision. Page hits punches then goes up and over in the corner. Toa knees him in the gut. Page sunset flips him, Toa blocks it then Pge hits a sliding lariat. Toa is pulled over the top and Page springboard triangle lariats him. Toa no sells it and throws Page over the top.

Toa crossbodies him off the apron outside the butt drops him inside. Toa tries to pounce him over the ropes but Page gets stuck and the bump isn't that great.

We go to PiP break and return. Page is put in tree of woe and Toa headbutts him. Toa misses a senton on the apron. Toa blocks a plancha then Page topes him. Page top rope crossbodies him for 2. Page hits spinning forearms then Toa superkicks him.

Toa misses a corner charge and takes a lariat. Toa no sells it then is lariated again. Toa misses a crossbody then is lariated. Page hits deadeye then Toa headbutts him. Toa spinning lariats him and sentons him on the apron.

Toa misses a moonsault off the apron then Page top rope moonsaults him. Toa pop-up samoan drops him inside and Page crucifixes him to win it.

There was too much no selling here and I thought it went longer than it needed to. They pushed Toa here as never losing a singles match in AEW, but I don't know if he's ever even been in one where he could lose. Toa and Page try to keep fighting after but Toa is fending off avoiding a chair.

We see The Young Bucks arrive. They get mad that they are called Matt and Nick. One of htem says there will be a $500 fine for it. The other one says sorry about that but says they need the $500 by the end of the day.

Wardlow vs Komander

The announcer messes up the intro and Wardlow is called "Mr. Wardlow".

Wardlow throws him around some. Kom dropkicks him in the knee then hits leg kicks. Wardlow pop-up powerslams him then throws across the ring. Wardlow spinning F-5's him. Wardlow is sent into the steps outside and holds his knee. Kom hits some bad dropkicks on the apron and kicks the rope in Wardlow's crotch.

Kom rope walk dropkicks him then phoenix splashes him. Kom walks the top rope and is caught with a spinning slam. Wardlow puts him on the top and tries to drop him int oa knee, but it misses like it often does. Wardlow drops him when he tries to hit a powerbomb as his knee gives out. Wardlow wins.

It wasn't good and went on too long. It was the same squash we've been seeing for years and him taking so long to finish off Komander didn't help him. Wardlow got injured here and the announcer messed up his name. This was a total disaster.

Roderick Strong yells at Komander after. He said he didn't take the deal he was offered and now Komander will pay the price. Best Friends with Rocky Romero then come out and go face to face with The Undisputed Kingdom. Strong says thanks for coming out and see you later.

We have a sit down face to face with Darby, Sting, Big Bill and Ricky Starks. Starks talks about the jounrey Sting has had in AEW and said it started with him. Sting asks what he did there and Starks said Sting got his first win there on him. Darby said Starks doesn't respect Sting and this is just a stepping stone. Darby said Sting's career is not a stepping stone. Starks says he has no respect for Darby.

Bill said Sting and Darby just keep running their mouths. Bill said all they have done is brag about how they will be tag champs and have overlooked them. Bill said they will take out their frustrations on them next week. Sting said he admires Starks getting in his face and talking smack. He said Starks has to earn respect. Sting said he faced a lot of big men and said they were killed. He doesn't know if Bill is or not yet. Darby told Starks there's only one person to blame and it's him. Starks throws a drink at Darby and tells him to hit him but Sting holds him back. Sting said he will hit him in Phoenix with Darby.
 

Chris Jericho vs Kyle Fletcher

 

 

Kyle is wearing some hideous looking tights on. They slap each other and trade shots. CJ takes a michinoku driver for 2. Kyle goes over the top and Jericho springboard triangle dropkicks him on the apron. CJ goes after Don Callis then is hit from behind.

Kyle hits corner punches then flying forearms him in the corner. Kyle kicks him in the back. Jericho hits corner punches and top rope hurricanrana's him. Hobbs gets on the apron then Don trips CJ.

We go to PiP break and return. They trade chops and Kyle tiger suplexes him. Kyle brainbusters him and CJ hits shoulders. CJ double axe handles him off the top and they botch a facebuster spot. CJ gets on the 2nd rope and is hit by Hobbs.

CJ crabs him and Kyle ropebreaks. Kyle superkicks him and CJ codebreakers him. They trade forearms on their knees. They get up and keep trading shots. Kyle enzugiri's CJ while he sits on the buckles. They botch another move up top and CJ takes like a brainbuster on the buckles. Kyle leg lariats CJ on the ropes then CJ gets a 2 count on him. Kyle superkicks him then Kyle spinning high kicks him.

Kyle goes for a tope outside but takes a judas effect. CJ hits a diving judas effect off the top and wins it.

It was average and it had two botches. The tope judas effect spot was cool but wasn't hit clean and Jericho doing the judas effect off the top was interesting. I thought it should have been shorter.

Konosuke Takeshita gets on the ramp and stares him down. 

 

Deonna Purazzo talks about her tattoos and said the duck tattoo she and Toni got was meaningless, but said it symbolizes their journey around the world. She said it symbolizes who she is. Deonna asks her what the tattoo means to Toni.

The Bang Bang Scissor Gang arrive. Max says someone is missing and asks Bowens to grab Cardblade. Colten said they fired him weeks ago and they throw Cardblade out. Colten asks Austin to "get the juiceboard". Austin tries to do the "we've got two words for you" line and he and Billy argue about it. Billy said the two words aren't "suck it" but "guns up". They all then gun/scissor each other.

Deonna Purazzo vs Taya Valkyrie

Taya corner chops her then DP armdrags her. DP armlocks her. Taya chops her in the corner again then DP spinning headscissors her. Johnny TV distracts DP outside then Taya spears DP on the ramp. DP is thrown into the steps then Taya and Johnny kiss.

We go to PiP break and return. They trade forearms and DP hits lariats. DP kneelifts her then russian legsweeps her. DP pump kicks her for 2. Taya blue thunders her for 2. DP leglocks her and takes a sliding lariat for 2. Taya is thrown out and DP baseball slides her.

DP bangs Taya's head off the commentator's table where Toni is. Toni is hit then DP pulls back on Taya's arms and sits on her back. Taya taps out.

It wasn't a very exciting match at all and the outcome was obvious here. There was too much focus on armwork on this one.

 

Renee interviews Darby Allin. She asks him about his admiration for The Young Bucks. The Bucks then come in with headsets. They said they love him and said he's a young, hot star like them. One of thme asks why they are letting a 65 year old bloodsucking leech take money out of his pocket. The Bucks said they should be a trio when Sting is done. The Bucks then say Darby is being unprofessional and ducking their text messages. Darby said the only thing on his mind are the AEW Tag Titles. The Bucks said they will have to get his attention another way. This gimmick sucks.

 

Dealer's Choice - Hardcore Match - Swerve Strickland vs Rob Van Dam

 

Page picking RVD doesn't make much sense. Page has all of these buddies in The Elite and he picks someone he's not aligned with. And he blew the surprise anyway by doing RVD's line in an inset. At least Swerve picked someone he teams with. Samoa Joe is on commentary here.

Page gets on the tron before htis starts. He said Swerve doesn't know how to read. Page said they get to pick not only the opponent, but the type of match. Page then says it's a hardcore match and RVD throws a chair at Swerve's head. Swerve is thrown into the rails outside and RVD spinning heel kicks him against them. Swerve is sent onto the rails into the seats.

RVD slingshot legdrops Swerve on the apron. Swerve is laid on the rails and RVD spinning leg drops him as he hangs. We go to PiP break and return. RVD is sent into a chair in the corner. Swerve is thrown into a chair in the corner then RVD hits rolling thunder. RVD then dropkicks a chair into Swerve's face.

Swerve turns a monkey flips into a stiout powerbomb on a chair. Swerve is crotched on the top rope and RVD goes for a move. Brian Cage comes out and pushes him over. Hook then comes out and chairs Cage. Hook and Cage fight outside.

RVD does a leg takedown on Swerve then spinning heel kicks him. Both guys roll and Swerve rolls into a flatliner on him. They fight outside. Swerve boots him off the apron then double stomps him while he's seated on a chair. Swerve is up top and gets knocked off through a table outside. RVD misses a top rop frogsplash and lands on a chair. Swerve then pumping knees a chair into his face. Swerve then top rope double stomps him and wins it.

I didn't like how this was done. RVD beat the crap out of Swerve for most of this. Swerve then survived a bump off the top through a table and came back and won it, almost making it look like a fluke.

Adam Page comes out after. Page calls him evil. He said the AEW rankings are coming out and since both are undefeated, they are both at the top of the list. Page said he won't let Swerve beat Samoa Joe and said he's the next world champ not him. Swerve said he has beaten him twice and has nothing to prove. He said Page is just mad that he can't beat him. Page said Swerve needed help the two times he beat him. Swerve then stupidly agrees to a third match and said he will focus on the title after he beats him. This was dumb. Swerve beat him twice. The rankings have come out as of 2/1 and Swerve is the #1 ranked wrestler. If he loses, he risks dropping down to #2 and if he wins, he stays in the same exact spot he's in. He's a heel mind you, so it's not like he cares about being just or helping people, yet that's about all he's doing here.

Overall thoughts: The show sucked. The opener was fine then Mox picked a fight with the CMLL luchadores and we were supposed to feel sorry for him for getting jumped be cause of it. Page beat Toa Leona as expected in a match where they did too much and went too long. Wardlow fought another pointless squash, possibly injuring himself in the process. Jericho and Fletcher had a sloppy match that went too long. Deonna/Taya's match wasn't anything special. We got some bad Young Bucks segments. The main basically had RVD beating the crap out of Swerve until Swerve came back and won it. Swerve then stupidly agreed to a 3rd match with Page, where he basically gains nothing by winning and risks his top ranking status.