AEW Dynamite 12/4/2024

AEW Dynamite 12/4/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/aew-dynamite-11272024.html

We are in Fishers, Indiana.

Continental Classic Blue League - Kyle Fletcher vs Shelton Benjamin

SB backs him up in the corner then pushes him over. Kyle side headlocks him and SB shoulders him over. KYle hits various shots on him. SB running lariats him. Kyle goes out to stall.

SB waistlocks him and Kyle ropebreaks. SB knees him in the gut and forearms him. SB overhead throws him on his head. Kyle lariats him over the top. We go to PiP break and return. They trade forearms. SB lariats him over the top. 

SB sends Kyle into the apron and rail. SB runs into the post. SB goes back in and gets lariated for 2. They trade forearms. Kyle michinoku drivers him for 2 and SB spinning heel kicks him. SB powerbombs him for 2. SB ties Kyle's legs up and pulls on his chin. Kyle ropebreaks.

Kyle superkicks him then hits a top rope elbow drop for 2. SB superkicks him. SB release germans him twice. SB runs up the buckles and knees him. Kyle slingshot sunset flips him for 2 then pins him by holding onto the ropes.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. It was a slower match that never really got going and it went longer than it needed to. The finish was also weak and not that well built up to.

Hook comes out. He has words for Nick Wayne. he says he wants to fight Christian instead at Hammerstein Ballroom. He says Nick should come fight him now. Christian and Mother Wayne come out. Hook then gets nailed from behind by Kip Sabian and Nick Wayne. Nick shoulder throws Kip  and puts redrum on Nick. Christian hits Hook with his contract case and Hook takes a 3v1. Nick conchairto's Hook's hand.

Renee interviews Mercedes Mone. Mone says to say hello to your CEO. Renee says Kamille was found knocked out backstage. Mone says Kamille quit and she's not liable. She says she has no concerns for her but is concerned about Anna Jay. Mone says there's always a price to pay when you mess with Mone.

The Hurt Syndicate talk in the back. MVP gets mad at Shelton for losing and asks why he didn't hurt that man. He says that's not what we do. He says he's disappointed in his performance and says that's not how we do it. A production guy runs into Shelton. Shelton throws him into the wall and stomps him.Other security guys then get beaten up. MVP says, "that's what we do".

Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale

Everyone fights. Rocker Romero takes shots from Lio Rush. Evil Uno squares off with Adam Cole. Uno eye pokes him and back rakes him. Uno pulls him down by the hair. Mark Davis enzugiri's Uno off the apron for the elimination. Butcher back body drops Mark. Adam Cole superkicks Butcher. Cage hits a slame on Dante Martin.

Darius Martin flatliners Lance Archer off the bottom rope. Brian Cage lariats Action Andretti, Darius and Dante. Lio Rusha and Action do handspring kicks to knock Darius and Dante off the apron. Mark Davis punches out Action. Mark double lariats Kyle and Rocky. Mark piledrivers The Butcher.

Brian Cage is double teamed by Lance and Cage, then he is double lariated over the top. We go to PiP break and return. Action kind of throws himself over the top on a failed lariat on Rocky. Rocky and Action get on the apron and fight. Action pump kicks him and is eliminated with a facekick from Kyle O'Reilly. Kyle throws Lio Rush over the top for the elimination. Cage and Archer hit stereo shoulderblocks. Kyle takes a lariat from Lance. Rock takes a chokeslam/powerbomb combo over the top and is eliminated.

Adam Cole spinning enzugiri's Butcher off the apron for the elimination. Cole superkicks Cage on the apron and Lance buckle chokeslams Kyle. Cole superkicks Cage. Lance and Cage are eliminated together. Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly are the last two left and they face off next week for a shot at MJF's Dynamite Diamond Ring. They argue after and KYle runs into him.

Thoughts: I never like these kinds of endings where there's two victors at the end. It's not exciting and just needlessly extends things. It was a battle royale otherwise and not that interesting. I thought it was obvious that Cole was going to be one of the winners here.

We get another Julia Hart video on Jamie Hayter. She says it's her turn to come back and says The House always wins. She then throws a dart at her picture.

Renee interviews The Acclaimed. Max says everything is great and Billy disagrees. Billy says MVP is too far up in Max's head and he's not thinking straight. Billy says what they became has not been due to one person. He says Max is going about this all wrong. Bowens tells Max to go prove he's the best wrestler alive. Max asks for hands in on 3 and no one joins him. Max then walks off.

Swerve Strickland vs Max Caster

Swerve nails Max as he gets on the apron and sends him into the rails. Swerve release germans him in the ring and lariats him over the top. Swerve pump kicks Max from the apron. Max boots and pounds on Swerve outside. Max springboard dropkicks him and Swerve hits a house call kick. Swerve hits 2 more house call kicks and wins.

Thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of this. I thought they were going to treat Max somewhat seriously here instead of squashing him. This was a burial.

Swerve hits a top rope double stomp on Max after the match. Swerve says the rest of 2024 will belong to him and says it's not over yet with Lashley. 

MJF talks. He says him and Cole were white hot together and the madness wasn't going on. He says they were record breaking and Cole turned on him. He says because of him, Strong's arm is broken and he has to face his best friend Kyle O'Reilly. He says Mox has taken over AEW because of Cole. He says he's sick of Cole pretending to be the hero when he's a villain. He says he must be terminated and will be. He says he knows he can't beat Kyle O'Reilly and says it will be proven next week.

Pac vs Jay White

Pac misses a corner charge. Jay chops him and bangs his head off the buckles. Pac goes out to stall and Jay chases him. Pac shoves Yuta outside.

Jay hits forearms and boots him. Jay hits punches and back body drops him. Pac backs him up on the ropes. Jay blocks his boot then exploders him over the top to the floor. Jay drops him on the apron for 2.

Yuta pulls Jay down off the apron and lariats him on the floor. Jay is sent into the rails. We go to PiP break and return. Pac chinlocks Jay. They trade forearms. Pac goes up an dover him in the corner. Jay underhook suplexes him into the buckles.

Jay hits punches and chops in the corner. Jay ddt's him for 2. Pac slides out again. Jay chops him outside. They go back in and Pac rebound germans him. Jay uranages him.

Pac boots him out of the corner. Pac misses a top rope ssp. Jay back elbows him on the ropes. Pac hits kicks. Jay hits a suplex. Pac does a brutalizer in the air off a bladerunner attempt. Jay White is bleeding from the mouth. Jay goes down but ropebreaks. Yuta flying knees Jay on the outside. Jay hits bladerunner on Pac and wins.

Thoughts: The finish wasn't good. Yuta nailed Jay outside and Jay just came back in and won it. Jay is a guy who likes to do a lot of punches and chops and isn't quite a superworker like everyone things. I thought it was just okay and not great.

Jay bladerunners Yuta after. Marina Shafir stares down Jay and Jon Moxley nails Jay from behind. Mox double underhook ddt's Jay. He goes to walk off. Adam Page then comes out. Mox stares him down. someone in a mask and hood chokes Mox with a wire after. It's Orange Cassidy. Page pounds on Mox. Page gets triple teamed and Mox dumps Shafir over the rail. OC hits orange punches on Yuta, Mox and Pac. Jay bladerunners Mox. Jay and OC stare down. Page hits a buckshot lariat on Mox. Christian then appears in the entrance way.

Thoughts: Now this was what The Death Riders vs AEW angle should have been all along. This is much better than John Silver and Dante Martin waiting for The Riders in the parking lot and then getting punk'd.

Jamie Hayter says she can't figure Julia Hart out. She says she likes to play mindgames. She says she's more of a face to face or fist to face type of girl. She says everyone is mad about her returning at Wembley. She says she doesn't know why though. She says she came back to AEW to right wrongs and settle stores and says it has nothing to do with her. She says The International Women's Cup means a lot to her and she wants to win it. She says you can't fight what you can't see, so she says she's coming for Hart.

Chris Jericho does a New York Minute segment. He says he's excited for ROH Final Battle and says to come check out the other two shows there. He says he will tell everyone who he is facing there on ROH on HonorClub tomorrow.

We get some western video with maybe Brandon Cuter talking about someone coming to town. They say if this outlaw returns, they are in trouble. They say he's the most wanted man and they put up a sign which is for Bandido.

We get a video on Anna Jay vs Penelope Ford.

Anna Jay vs Penelope Ford

Theo shove each other and Ford goes down. They trade forearms. Anna hits knees to the gut then flying forearms her. Anna misses a kick in the corner and takes forearms. Anna is tripped into the 2nd buckle. Ford trips her on the apron then double knee drops her off the 2nd rope on the apron. 

Ford chops Anna outside. Anna is sent into the steps. We go to PiP break and return. Ford hits her in the corner then handspring backflip back elbows her. She snapmares her. Ford is crotched on the top rope. Anna iconoclasm's her then running headhunters her for 2. Ford pump kicks her then Anna superkicks her. Ford limbos out of a lariat and Anna sleepers her.

Anna cutters her for 2. Ford misses a top rope moonsault then Anna basement dropkicks her. Ford dropkicks her on the ropes. Ford indian deathlocks her and Anna ropebreaks. Anna hitsa gori bomb and wins.

Thoughts: It was the usual Anna Jay match. She can hit her moves clean, but if you are looking for any real logic in them or face or heel work, you are watching the wrong person. It got a lot of time and was average.

Anna asks Mercedes Mone to come out after. Mone comes out. she says she was watching. She says if Kris Statlander can't beat her for the title then what makes Anna think she can. She says she likes her confidence and says she needs to come back in 10 years when she has done something if she wants a shot at the title. She then calls her kiddo. Anna then says, "something like this?" and slaps her. Mone then heads out.

The announcers then say Mone and Anna are fighting for the title are fighting in 2 weeks.

Renee does a taped interview with Mariah May. May accuses her of poking holes in people. May says she doesn't owe her an explanations and says whatever she does is the right thing as long as she is champ. She says giving her friend a title shot is a generous gesture. She says she believes in Mina and says they can sip champagne when they are done. We see someone power walking in the back. May says women's wrestling is dead. Mina then walks in and gives her a champagne bottle. She tells her to do it to her face. She says winter is coming and tells her to make her work.

Continental Classic Gold League - Brody King vs Claudio Castagnoli

CC side headlocks him. They trade shots and lariat each other at the same time. Brody hits chops. CC bangs Brody's arm off his shoulder. They trade forearms. Brody slams and sentons CC. CC hits a euro flurry in the corner.

Brody hits chops. CC dropkicks Brody in the knee and he goes into the buckles. CC bangs Brody's arm off the post. We go to PiP break and return.

They trade shots. CC bangs his arm over his shoulder and Brody death valley drivers him. CC hits a pop-up euro for 2. CC death valley drivers him for 2. CC hits elbows to the head. They trade forearms. Brody hits a corner cannonball for 2. Brody hits a big forearm. Brody superplexes CC then piledrivers him for 2.

CC ducks a lariat and goes out. Brody chops CC outside and hits forearms. CC is put in a seat and Brody crossbodies the rail when CC moves. CC running euros him over the rail.

Brody gets back in then hits a big lariat for 2. CC low blows Brody and hits a neutralizer. CC then pins him.

Thoughts: CC worked Brody's arm some here but didn't hyper-focus on it and the finish had nothing to do with it. The finish was dirty here with CC hitting a low blow on Brody to win. This one went past the 10pm mark. There were some nice spots in it. I thought it was okay could have been better with a bit more in it and either no arm work or more focus on it and a finish involving the arm.

Overall thoughts: I thought it was about average overall. I didn't like the battle royale ending with 2 winners, I didn't like Shelton losing and I didn't like Max getting squashed. I liked the post-match segment with Page/OC/Jay going against The Death Riders. I also liked some of the main. And in general, the show is starting to be put together better with video packages and info on upcoming events. I would give this a 5 out of 10 overall but wouldn't recommend it.