AEW Dynamite 4/10/2024

AEW Dynamite 4/10/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/04/aew-dynamite-432024.html

AEW World Title Eliminator - Samoa Joe (c) vs Dustin Rhodes

Swerve Strickland jumps Joe from behind. They fight out on the floor. Swerve is sent into the rail and bangs his head off the cement floor. Swerve spears Joe into a table against the rail. The segment then ends.

Well, at least they didn't go on with the match here after Joe got taken out. I hate when NJPW does that.

Renee is outside of Orange Cassidy's locker room. She said OC told her he will wrestle on Friday and address Trent's actions from last week.

AEW TNT Title - Adam Copeland (c) vs Penta El Zero Miedo

They shove each other and Penta does his taunt in Adam's face. Penta spears him then hits a top rope double foot stomp for 2. Penta superkicks him then lariats him over the top. Penta leg kicks Adam then chops him.

We go to PiP break and return. Penta hits a kick on Adam. Adam goes up and over then does a rare headscissors out of the corner. Adam then headscissor takeovers him. Penta mule kicks him. Penta side headlocks him, Adam does leapfrogs then takes a headscissors. Adam then headscissors him. They lariat each other at the same time then jumping kick each other at the same time. 

They trade forearms on their knees then Penta slingblades him. Penta tope con hilos him and both are down outside. Adam barely gets in the ring in time. Penta stomps Adam then kicks his head as it hangs off the apron.

We go to break and return. Penta goes up and over with a backcracker for 2. Penta is electric chair forward dropped off an up and over. Adam puts him in an edgecator and Penta gets hte ropes. Agam grabs the ankles, is sent into the buckles then Penta handstands on the buckles and dropkicks him.

They fight on the apron and Penta superkicks him. dam then powerslams him on the apron. Adam spears Alex outside when Penta moves. Penta superkicks him then 2nd rope code red's him. Penta springboards and is caught with a spear. Adam gets the win.

It was longer and slower than it needed to be. For whatever reason, things just completely went to a halt when Penta tope'd Adam. There was still some fun stuff here with Adam doing lucha but it so slow that I thought Adam was actually hurt at times.

The lights go out after. Julia Hart and Brody King get in the ring. Brody beats up on Adam then stomps him in the corner. Brody sleepers him then Willow Nightingale comes out. Willow takes her down and pounds on her. Willow and Brody stare down. Brody goes over the top.

Some of Brody's shots here on Adam looked real weak and one of the boots didn't even hit.

Renee interviews Chris Jericho, Hook and Katsuyori Shibata. Chris said he appreciated Hook bringing Shibata in. Chris said Hook and Shibata will sit under his learning tree. He sys he will knock out Ogogo, then Hook should take care of Shane and Shibata can choke out Lee with the sleeper. Chris says there's nothing but success for them if they can follow this. Shibata then translates on his phone, asking what Jericho's deal is and saying he likes Renee's necklace.

We see clips of the prior FTR/Young Bucks matches.

Renee interviews Mark Briscoe and Eddie Kingston who just fought at the ROH PPV. Mark says he feels amazing but he's in pain. He said him and Eddie had a war. Eddie said he feels confused and says he is beat up too. Adam Copeland, Willow and Stokeley walk in. Adam asks if they are good and says he is as good as he can be. Adam said he just got jumped and wanted to see if they are good at dynasty. Willow goes to talk, saying she has an idea and Stoke said Adam should put the TNT Title on the line again Willow next week. Willow says no. She says she and Adam should team up against Julia and Brody next week. Stoke then said he apologized for saying Eddie smelled like Burger King and Newports last time. This was funny.

The Young Bucks say they have footage to show. One of them talks about their match at All In. He says he has wounds that didn't heal from it. They say there was an incident between two people backstage during this. He calls Jack Perry "The Scapegoat", said he's a good friend of theirs and said he reminds them of them. He then goes to talk "the other individual". They say this person tried to make the show about themselves and are good friends with FTR. They ask if FTR were the masterminds of this. They say they were thrown off their game and said wrestling journalists needed information. He says yes FTR beat The Bucks in London, but there should be an asterisk. They say "the incident" is not the worst part and say it resembles more of a high school scrap. They say the incident threatened to take down the biggest show of all time and they are glad it didn't.

We then go back stage. CM Punk goes up Jack Perry with Samoa Joe in the back. They talk but we can't hear it. They seem to argue and Punk shoves him. Punk gets a facelock on and it's broken up. Punk then heads towards to Tony at the monitors (it looks like him) and that's it. Uh ok.

They say this wasn't the worst part of the incident. They complain about something so stupid ruining the big show. They say they then FTR had the gall to ask them to shake hands. They call them pricks and say they won't shake their hands.

The segment was really stupid. The fight was squashed before it got started and the whole thing lasted maybe ten seconds. I and others imagined some wild knockout brawl here and this turned out to be absolutely nothing. Why would Tony fear for his life over this?

I have no idea what this accomplished. It didn't make me want to see The Bucks vs FTR any more and it brought up a bunch of old stuff between Jack Perry and Punk that isn't really relevant to anything. I expected far worse and far stupider from this segment. I can just imagine someone who doesn't follow all of this scratching their heads wondering what this was about. This was a total WCW/TNA moment from AEW.

Tony Schiavone looks like he is cringing when they show commentary after this.

FTR then come out. Cash asks why they showed this and what they hoped to accomplish and I have to ask the same thing. Cash says maybe it's an excuse for why they lost at Wembley. Cash says he's sick and tired of talking and hearing about this. Cash says they are ready to move on and put this in the past. He says Rod and Todd Flanders can't get over that they lost to FTR. He said he's sick of those petty little b!tches.

Dax says thats their bosses. He said without them, he might still be shaving Cash's back. Dax said they have eclipsed them as the best team on this planet. Dax said they will continue to build this place. Dax says they are doing this for the fans. They tell The Bucks to go home and grab their ball if they don't want to be part of this. Dax says they will re-build this place brick by brick.

Yeah, this was one of the weirdest wrestling segments in a long time. Cash looked dumb here trying to cut a serious promo in a kid's Bart Simpson shirt.

We get a Bryan Danielson video with him talking about this maybe being his last year and fighting various dream matches.

Rene interviews Will Ospreay on the ramp. He says Tony told him he has 5 minutes and TV time is expensive (that's a shot at Punk). He said he was told he's afraid of the grind (that's a shot at Triple H). He said he's delivering some of the best matches ever seen. He then takes another shot at Triple H, saying he's grinding on the bosses daughter. He says he has no idea what he's fighting for. He said not to throw stones at an assassin with a machine gun. He said he can't call himself the best wrestler in the world after Dynasty when he beats him. He says this is AEW where the best wrestle. He said Bryan will find out why he's Will Ospreay and why he's on another level.

Oh wow, this is our 3rd shoot promo in a row. Triple H basically made a remark last week saying that he didn't want wrestlers who were looking to only wrestle one night a week and weren't in it for the grind. Again, if you haven't been online following this stuff, you'd have no idea what they were talking about. And again, I don't know how this made money for AEW or was relevant.

Julia Hart does a promo talking about Willow. She said she's strong and powerful and always has a spark in her. Julia said a spark can start a big fire. She said Willow knows what she is capable of and keeps coming back for more. She said she will turn her smile into a frown and make sure she never touches her crown.

Chris Jericho, Hook and Katsuyori Shibata vs Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty and Anthony Ogogo

Ogogo teases starting off against Jericho but backs off. Lee comes in and is lariated then chopped. Jericho shoulders him over then lionsaults him. Jericho dropkicks him then hits corner lariats on him. Jericho top rope hurricanrana's him.

Lee hits forearms on KS then takes a big one back. KS kicks him in the back and Lee backs off. Shane gets in with Hook. Hook hits a flurry of punchesthen is hit by Ogogo on the ropes. Shane hits a big lariatand drops him.

We go to PiP break and return. Hook hits a slow german on him. KS gets in and running face kicks Lee. He hits a forearm flurry then hits a punch and chop. KS then corner dropkicks him. KS suplexes him then hits euros. KS face kicks Jerich off the apron when Lee moves. Lee hits shots on KS then KS hits an STO.

Jericho pulls Hook off the apron then KS tries to make a tag. Hook pushes him and Jericho says to listen to him. KS sleepers Lee. Shane punches KS then Lee does his elevated flatliner to beat KS.

Well, Ogogo won on his return here. They are going somewhere with the Hook/Jericho/Shibata stuff and we'll have to see where it goes. I never really like people costing themselves matches since they are just hurting their own pocketbooks in kayfabe. The match wasn't much of anything.

Hook said he's had enough of Jericho and tells him to leave.

Dustin Rhodes is interviewed. Rene says Joe is cleared to compete tonight. Dustin said he knows what's on the line here and he has nothing to lose. He said the time for talking is over. He said grit, passion and work ethic is what he does each week and this will be no different tonight.

Kazuchika Okada vs Cristiano Argento

CA hits boots to the gut and is hit. Okada clubs CA's back then does an over the back neckbreaker on the knee. Okada dropkicks him then hits a rainmaker to win this quick squash.

Okada gets on the mic after. He said he accepts Pac's challenge and says he will see him at Dynasty. Pac then comes down. The Young Bucks hit Pac from behind. Pac takes a double superkick. FTR come out to beat up The Bucks. Okada grabs a chair and hits FTR with it. FTR take superkicks then an EVP trigger. Okada then chairs Pac.

Bullet Club Gold do a promo. They said they crushed Darby's dream and ankle, defended the ROH 6-Man Tag Titles and gave Billy Gunn the biggest baddest beating. They talk about wanting to do it again to him on Rampage.

We have a champagne toast with Toni Storm, Renee, Luther and Thunder Rosa. Toni throws the drink at Rosa then attacks her. She then hits her with a tray and rubs her facepaint with a towel and dances. Deonna Purrazzo then backs her off. Deonna then helps out Rosa and Rosa knocks her off thinking she did it. Mariah May then comes out and heads to the ring.

Mariah May vs Anna Jay

They trade chops then Anna hits forearms. May trips her then Anna running headhunters her. Anna hits a forearm and is double chopped on the top rope. May does her handstand hurricanrana in the corner. Anna neckbreakers her over the middle rope then May knocks her down with a headbutt.

We go to break and return. May dropkicks her and misses a hip attack. Anna hits forearms then spinning heel kicks her in the corner. Anna hits an iconoclasm for 2. May high kicks her from the apron then top rope dropkicks her. May running hip attacks her for 2. Anna side kicks her then May rolls her up out of the gori special and wins it.

It was just a normal match for the most part. I didn't like the last part of this match and thought it needed more time.

Anna grounded chokes her after. Mina Shirakawa comes out to help May. Mina then grabs champagne and pours it in May's mouth. She then kisses her. May then hugs her and spins her around. They drink together. Mina got zero reaction here.

Alex Marvez interviews Mercedes Mone. She said history was made 5 years at Double or Nothing. She said she's a history maker and said she will head to Vegas the TBS champ. She said she can't wait to see Willow vs Julia. She said Julia has Willow's number. She said Willow is dangerous and a force to be reckoned with.

She said she got injured against Willow and lost her chance to be the first ever to hold a title. She said she hates to lose and said she always has a plan. She is asked who she would rather face and the lights go out. Mone is down and someone attacked her.

AEW World Title Eliminator Match - Samoa Joe vs Dustin Rhodes

They trade shots in the corner and Dustin is thrown out. Dustin is sent into the rails then Dustin euros him. Joe hits punches then Dustin lariats him. Dustin hits shots in the corner and Joe eye rakes him. Joe headbutts him then sends him into the post.

Dustin bleeds and Joe pounds on the cut. We then go to PiP break and return. Joe atomic drops and sentons Dustin. Joe chops him then takes a powerslam. They trade shots then Dustin hits punches and a bionic elbow. Dustin hits a code red for 2. Dustin hits corner punches then Joe hits a stiff lariat that sends him out.

Joe is sent into the post. Dustin grabs the AEW Title and brings it in. Dustin boots him then hits a cross rhodes for 2. Joe corner uranages Dustin then grabs a chain. The ref takes it and Joe hits Dustin with the belt. Joe then gets the win.

What we got of this was good but it was a shorter match and the outcome was obvious. A longer match between these two would have no doubt been good. The weapons usage didn't really add much to this.

Joe sleepers Dustin after then Swerve comes in off camera and kicks him. Swerve hits a punch with a chain. Security and lower card wrestlers come out to protect Joe and Nana gives Swerve the title.

Overall thoughts: Let's just be honest - all that mattered here was the Punk segment. It sounded like a stupid idea on paper with little upside and all it seemed to accomplish was making AEW look bad. They tried to sell it as part of The Young Bucks vs FTR feud but it didn't work. It was one of AEW's lowest moment to date and then two other bad shoot segments followed it. The rest of the show wasn't that great and I doubt anyone really cared or stuck around for the rest of it. The Punk segment is a must see for how bad it was and it will likely be remembered for a long time to come.