AEW Dynamite 5/1/2024

AEW Dynamite 5/1/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/04/aew-dynamite-4242024.html

Tony Khan welcomes us to the show live from the Jacksonville Jaguars office, wearing a neckbrace. He says he's not cleared to leave Jacksonville due to the attacks from The Elite.

We then see The Bucks in the control center cutting out the feed. They say there are technical difficulties there. The Bucks say Tony isn't there but they are. The Bucks say they have iron clad contracts with a founders clause and can't be fired. They say it also says if Tony Khan can't be at an event, the EVP's can run the show.

The Bucks then run a new intro for the show with only The Elite in it.

This doesn't really make any sense considering The Bucks and Jack Perry got suspended in storyline/real-life already for fighting Punk. Why wouldn't Tony suspend them again? The question of  "why doesn't the promoter just fire the wrestler" always becomes a problem in these types of angles.

Swerve Strickland comes out. He aid there were 3 title matches in one week and said that's the kind of champ AEW deserves and is the kind of champ he will be. He says AEW doesn't deserve power hungry EVP's who can throw their weight around. He said what The Elite did was a b!tch move. He says it will be handled at some point. He asks who his opponent will be at Double or Nothing.

The Young Bucks appear on the tron. They said they are champs too and Swerve's success has gone to his head. They say they he needs a dose of humility and bring out Christian, who they say is going to be his opponent at Double of Nothing. How that can happen when there's a ranking system that he's not at the top of, I don't know. I also wonder why they wouldn't give Okada or Perry the shot instead if they are ignoring the ranking system.

Christian and his crew come out and Christian hits Swerve with the mic. Swerve fights back and she runs into Mother Wayne. Killswitch helps then Christian hits a killswitch on Swerve on the AEW title. Nick Wayne then hits a cutter off the 2nd rope on Nana. Christian says he never forgets and hasn't forgotten him breaking into Nick Wayne's gym months ago and leaving him covered in blood. He said they teamed up at Wembley and Swerve lost. He said he's been waiting for him to own up to his mistakes and says there's no better time for him to pay for his mistakes. He says he will end his title reign before it starts. He said Swerve's daughter won't want to know him when he's done with him. He said Swerve's daughter will have a father she can be proud of for the rest of her life.

Killswitch then rips a braid out of Swerve's head.

I liked Christian's promo but the big issue here is that Swerve's loss with Christian was a year ago and hasn't been mentioned since. That really hurts some of the believability of it. 

TNT Title - Adam Copeland (c) vs Buddy Matthews

Adam does a side headlock and they shoulder battle. Buddy takes a side headlock takeover. They end up doing a stand off and Buddy flying headscissors him. They stand off again. Buddy is thrown out then pulled over the top. Adam topes him.

We go to PiP break and return. Buddy bridging ddt's him over the 2nd rope. Buddy stomps and stands on him. Buddy side headlocks him. Adam hits a flapjack. They fight on the 2nd rope then both fall down to the apron simultaenously.

Adam and Buddy fight on their knees. Adam running forearms him then they collide in mid-air with crossbodies. Buddy holds his ribs and medical staff comes in to check on him. We go to PiP break and return.

The match is still going on. Adam hits corner punches and Buddy powebombs him. Buddy is dropped on the buckle connector ribs first. Adam hits a 2nd rope imapler ddt. Buddy gets his knee up on a spear and hits pumping knees. Buddy jackhammers him for 2 then crossfaces him.

Adam hits an olympic slam then spears the 2nd buckle when Buddy moves. Buddy hits a go to sleep then Adam hits a spear. Adam then gets the win.

It made sense with Adam working the ribs but it long and slow in front of a dead crowd. That really brought it down and made it hard to sit through. I'm also not a big fan of long openers like this.

Adam grabs chairs after. He chairs Buddy and goes for a conchairto. The lights go out and Malakai Black appears next to Adam. He tells him to do it and Buddy says to hit him. Adam raises the chair at Black then the lights go out. Buddy and Black then teleport away.

Samoa Joe vs Isiah Kassidy

Zay puts Joe's towel around his neck and dances. He talks trash to Joe then Joe chokes him with the towel. Joe pops up Zay and drops him on his chest. Joe hits punches. Zay gets in to avoid a tope then Zay springboard cutters him over the top rope. Zay does a tope con hilo but Joe moves. Zay topes the floor on purpose in a dangerous and stupid spot.

Zay is popped up and dropkicks Joe off of it. Zay hits corner punches then Joe blocks his monkey flip. Joe muscle busters him and wins it.

It was a squash as expected. Zay's bump to the outside was totally stupid and I can't believe anyone would ever agree to do that. It was entertaining other than that. 

Skye Blue says Willow Nightingale is a fraud. She said she had her pinned but Stokeley Hathaway got involved and stopped in. Skye also said she beat her in a tag team street fight. She challenges her to a TBS Title match on Rampage tonight.

Orange Cassidy comes out to talk. He said he thought Trent and Chuck would beat each other up and get it out of their systems this weekend then come back as best friends. OC says that will never happen. He said he was told that Chuck Taylor will never wrestle again due to what Trent did.

Trent Beretta comes out. He says OC is trying to make things about himself again. Security and Kris Statlander then hold OC back. Trent says Chuck's career is over because OC is selfish. Don Callis comes out and tries to hold OC back from Trent. He then grabs him and walks to the back with him. Trent then does OC's thumbs up pose.

Renee interviews The Young Bucks. The Bucks say they don't have time for this and are looking for an old friend. The Bucks said they will give some time to Jack Perry as they've  used up too much time. Jack is asked about attacking Tony Khan. Jack says he only wants what is best for AEW. He said that's what he did by taking him out. He said Tony made him The Scapegoat. He said it was a sacrifice someone would have to make. Jack says they are entering a new era under The Elite. The crowd chanted CM Punk during this.

FTW Title - Chris Jericho (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata

CJ armdrags him. KS snpamares him and chinlocks and armlocks him. They trade chops and CJ double throat thursts him. CJ hits an asai moonsault then grabs a trash can lid outside. KS gets hit with it, CJ brings in a bag of hockey pucks. KS STO's CJ on the pucks. CJ is then suplexed on the pucks.

CJ hits chops and KS chops back. We go to PiP break as they trade chops. We return and they trade more chops. CJ throws a puck at KS' face then puts him in the walls of Jericho. KS figure fours him then CJ throws a puck at KS' face to break the hold.

CJ puts a garbage can on KS' head then he hits the can with a kendo stick. KS stands up with the can on his head. KS headbutts him with it then dropkicks the can into CJ's body. KS' nose is busted open. KS hands him a kendo stick while he has one. They both sit down and trade shots with the stick in the shoulder. KS backdrops him using the kendo stick.  KS hits chops then runs into a codebreaker. KS sleepers him. Big Bill comes out and face kicks KS. Bill chokeslams KS through a table. CJ then gets the pin.

I didn't like this at all. Much like the last match, it was long and slow. They got silly like they usually do with Jericho. I really hope the hockey pucks were fake because throwing them at people's heads is a bad idea, especially when they are Shibata who left wrestling due to head injuries. Shibata seemed to have gotten his nose busted open from it. I didn't like Shibata taking all the shots to the head here. 

Willow, Kris and Stokeley are interviewed by Renee. Kris said she's so sorry for last week and said she wanted to diffuse the situation. Stoke is making a weird face. Willow said last week's fiasco left her in a fighting mood for Skye Blue. She said she has something for Mone. She said she will maim and massacre Skye here. Stoke complains about The Bucks beating up Tony Khan. The Bucks send a text and say Kris/Stoke are banned from ringside tonight. Stoke asks what he did to deserve this besides his own actions.

Brian Cage vs Claudio Castagnoli

They run at each other with lariats and trade forearms. They trade lariats. Brian running euros him then suplexes him. CC hits euros then suplexes him. Brian no sells it then headscissors him. Brian hits a dropkick.

Brian jumps up and is backbreakered. Brian goes up and over then basement dropkicks him. CC slams Brian then double stomps him. Brian deadlift suplexes him in. We go to PiP break and return. Brian superkicks him then 619's him. Brian spinning lariats him. 

CC springboard euros him then they trade face kicks. CC superkicks him then hits his own 619. CC spinning lariats him for 2. Brian hits a sitout alabama slam for 2. CC pop-up euros Brian for 2. CC giant swings Brian then sharpshooters him. Brian then taps out.

I wasn't a fan of this. They didn't sell anything here at all and Cage was doing a bunch of stuff he shouldn't have been doing as a big man. I also thought they threw each other around with ease here.

Rocky Romero is interviewed by Renee. Rocky said he doesn't side with anyone. He asks who the real winner is in the Best Friends feud. He said he can't take it anymore and is done with it. He says he does his own thing from now on. He said that thing is to be a champion in AEW. He said the only way he knows how to do it is to challenge the best in Kyle O'Reilly tonight. So if Kyle is the best then AEW Champion Swerve is what exactly?

Mariah May vs Serena Deeb

Deeb hammerlocks her and headlock takeovers her. May headscissors her and they stare down. Deeb wristlocks her and takes her down. Deeb puts her in a paradise lock then dropkicks her butt out of it. Deeb shoulders May over then armdrags her out of the hiptoss. Deeb surfboards her. May handstands hurricanrana's her in the corner then basement dropkicks her.

We go to PiP break and return. Deeb corner lariats her then neckbreakers her over the middle rope. Deeb spinning neckbreakers her. Deeb rebound germans her then hits a pepsi twist lariat. May high kicks her from the apron then top rope dropkicks her. May hip attacks her in the corner for 2.

May running knees her for 2. Deeb cobra twists her in the air then they trade pin attempts. Deeb spins her and backslides her for 2. May headbutts her then backdrops her. Deeb blocks a handstand headscissors then single leg crabs her. Toni Storm throws in the towel for May and Deeb wins it.

It was an average match. I thought it went a little longer than it needed to here and would have liked more leg work before the finish. I don't think it was a good idea to put this on near the end of the show like that.

Renee interviews Adam Copeland. She asks if he's okay. Kyle O'Reilly comes up to him. He said he doesn't dig what is going on with House of Back. He says he will be his back up if he ever needs it. Adam said he has Brody King next week and says Kyle has Rocky Romero tonight.

Kenny Omega comes out. He said he was diagnosed with diverticulitis. He said he was told he was 24 hours away from dying. He asked if he could be patched up and sent back to Dynamite. He was told he needed to have a colostomy bag for months or maybe his life. He said if he didn't, he'd have a ticking time bomb in his stomach and may just wake up having the surgery done to him anyway. He was told any blunt force trauma to the stomach could kill him.

He said he thought he would have to explain that he was retiring. He said he watched Dynasty. He said he saw Swerve make history and saw Bryan/Will make history. He said he asked himself if he was scared to be a wrestler. He said he was just going through withdrawal. He said living is being in the ring.

He said this isn't over until he exhausts every option. He said if there's a 1% chance, we aren't done with him. He said he wants to talk about The Young Bucks. He said they embarrassed themselves. He said they forgot there is also one other EVP. He said he's fired from The Elite but not fired from being an EVP. He said a part of this company belongs to him.

Kazuchika Okada comes out. Omega said they had a rivalry in NJPW. He said give him a few months and they will settle it in an AEW ring. Okada says he's sorry and says he's the best bout machine now. Jack Perry then jumps Kenny. He fights off security with a chair. Kenny hits punches on Jack and dragon suplexes him. Kenny holds his gut then Jack hits a chair to the gut.

The Young Bucks come out and hit an EVP trigger on Kenny. Kenny is then left laying.

It was a good angle with Kenny being sympathetic and then getting hit in the gut. The problem still remains though - who will be facing The Elite and when? Khan can't wrestle. Punk won't wrestle and Kenny is a long way away from returning. Kota Ibushi is injured. There's FTR and maybe Swerve, but they need something better than that.

Overall thoughts: It was a night of long matches and The Elite here. Boss vs wrestler angles are tough to do and AEW has already run into problems with their attempt at it. I don't really get the logic of The Bucks choosing Christian for Swerve when they could have chosen Okada/Jack or chosen the #1 ranked contender. The closing angle was good here but I didn't like the show that much.