AEW Dynamite 2/1/2023

AEW Dynamite 2/1/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/aew-dynamite-1252023.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/02/aew-dynamite-282023.html 

We are in Dayton, Ohio. Excalibur, Taz and Tony Schiavone are on commentary.

Jon Moxley vs. Adam Page

Mox goes after Page on the floor and bangs his head off the steps.  Mox sends him into the rails. Mox chokes him with a shirt and throw him into the crowd. Mox double axe handles him off the rail. Page forearms him outside and running facekicks him there. Mox chops him down outside and figure fours him. 

Page forearms him. Mox hits him with a chair at ringside. Mox goes on the apron and Page throws a chair at Mox's head. Page suplexes him on a chair. They bell then finally rings to start this. They trade forearms. Page headbutts him. Mox dropkicks him in the knee then does an indian deathlock variation him. Mox's eye is busted open. 

Page germans Mox. Page then pounds on Mox's busted eye. They chop each other. Page fallaway slams him. Page goes for a springboard triangle lariat but Mox lariats him first. Mox sleepers him on the apron. Page throws Mox's head into the buckles/post.

Mox is sent into the rails. They trade chops and Mox does down. Page pounds on Mox's head. Mox blocks a reverse curbstomp. Mox hits chops on him. Mox rakes Page's back and bites it. Page bites his head. Page 2nd rope AA's him for 2. 

Page hits facekicks on Mox. Mox cutters Page. They trade forearms and chops. Mox hits kicks to the body and sleepers him. Page backdrops him. Mox no sells it and backdrops him. Mox does like a 2nd rope guillotine suplex on Page then hits downward elbows. Mox hits reverse curbstomps. Mox rolling armbars him and Page ropebreaks. 

Mox is back body dropped over the top rope. Page misses a top rope moonsault outside and is lariated on the floor. They lariat each other outside and Mox takes a pop-up powerbomb through a table. They get back in. Page hits a lariat and deadeye for 2. Mox lariats him down. They trade forearms. Page superkicks him. Page does a nasty fisherman buster for 2.

Page tombstones Mox. Page hits a buckshot lariat for 2. Page bulldog chokes Mox. Mox then cradles him and pins him.

Thoughts: I didn't like the finish that much here as it was a bit sudden and Mox should have been done here. They overdid it a little but it wasn't too too bad. I was fine with this overall and it was okay.

Yuta and Claudio get in the ring after. Page and Mox shove each other and Page ends up leaving. Mox gives Page middle fingers. 

The Butcher, The Blade, The Bunny and Jamie Hayter are interviewed. Bunny says they were impressed with Jamie's win over Emi Sakura, but she says Emi outshined her. Bunny challenges her for an eliminator match for her AEW Women's title. Jamie says she loves a challenge and she's free.

We see then Saraya and Toni Storm beat up Jamie's buddy, Britt Baker, in the back.

The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) vs The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd)

Max raps and calls his opponents The Bootleg Beverly Brothers. Billy Gunn is with The Acclaimed. Truth has no beard here and looks like a different guy.

The Runners scissor and Bowens superkicks Turbo. Max slams Truth and Bowens 2nd rope leg drops Truth in the crotch. The Acclaimed then scissor. Bowens superkicks Truth. Max top rope elbow drops Truth and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a short squash and not much else here. It was definitely a burial of The Runners.

The Gunn's come out after and grab a mic in the ring. Colten tells The Acclaimed they had a good match. He says they want a shot at the titles and want an answer right now. Bowens complains about them interrupting him. Bowens asks the fans if The Gunn's deserve a shot. The fans say no and Bowens says no. The Gunn's shove The Acclaimed. Billy breaks it up and gets mad. Billy then leaves and tells them to beat each other up. Austin tell Billy to do what he did their entire childhood and turn his back on them. Austin tells him to go drown his sorrows in the bottom of a pill bottle just like he used to. 

Billy comes back in. He tells The Gunn's to step up and said they made the biggest mistake of their lives. Billy asks if they think they had what he had. Billy agrees to the tag title shot and says they will see what they have next week. The Gunn's smile and laugh and The Acclaimed aren't happy.

Thoughts: Odd logic here as Billy should have challenged one of his boys instead. He gave them exactly what they wanted simply just for them being rude to him.

Jack Perry is interviewed. He says he had a good time teaming with Hook, but he's done the tag team thing before. He says he will be a champ again this year but all by himself. 

Brian Cage vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Cage has Nana with him.

KT and Cage facekick each other and hit lariats. KT flying lariats him. KT facekicks him off the apron and slingshot plancha's him outside. Cage powerbomb throws KT into the post. Cage basement dropkicks him for 2. They trade forearms. KT spinning back elbows him and spinning forearms him. Cage knees him in the chest. KT spinning blue thunders him for 2.

KT misses a flying knee and goes to the apron. Cage deadlift 2nd rope superplexes him. We go to PiP break and return. KT hurricanrana's him in the back of the head. KT 2nd rope flying knees him. KT running lariats Cage then deadlift germans him for 2. 

Cage buckle bombs him. KT sitout powerbombs him for 2. KT spinning forearms him. Cage backdrops him then spinning lariats him for 2. KT brainbusters him. KT forearms him and brianbusers him again for 2. Cage F-5's KT. They fight on the buckles. KT 2nd rope brainbusters him. KT pumping knees him and pins him.

Thoughts: I didn't like it. These two just basically dropped each other on their necks the whole time and didn't sell much at all. 

The Jericho Appreciation Society are interviewed. Jericho says Starks didn't lose to a baseball bat but lost to the JAS. Sammy Guevara says Starks can face the Garcia-Guevara gauntlet to get a shot. Starks has to beat 2.0 then has to beat either Garcia or Guevara then can face Chris Jericho. Jericho says Stark doesn't call the shots around here, they do. Jericho says he's ready to whoop his @ss if he makes it through the gauntlet.

The Bucks, Kenny Omega, Don Callis and Nakazawa do a promo with basketballs. Kenny says Top Flight got one of their boys. Kenny says they can grab AR Fox and they'll put the titles on the line. Kenny says they can shoot their shot but The Elite never miss.

Matt Hardy, Ethan Page, Isiah Kassidy and Stokeley Hathaway come in. Page challenges them to a trios match. Don talks about selling an MFT and Omega agrees to the match. Kassidy says he hopes they are ready as they are.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher

TT goes for the armbar and Bryan ropebreaks. TT euros him in the corner. TT knees Bryan's arm then kimura's him. Bryan ropebreaks.  Bryan hits punches and kicks. Bryan dragon screws him. Bryan indian deathlocks his legs then does a surfboard. TT stomps Bryan's arm.

Bryan chops and kicks him in the corner. Bryan flying dropkicks him in the corner and TT armwhips him down. TT kimura's him and Bryan ropebreaks. We go to PiP break and return. TT and Bryan trade shots against the ropes. TT does a front facelock + kimura suplex for 2. 

Bryan's head is banged off the buckles. Bryan kncoks him down off the buckles and top rope dropkicks him. They trade euros. Bryan hits chest kicks. Bryan backslides him for 2. Bryan buzzsaw kicks him for 2. Bryan hits downward elbows on TT. TT backs up Bryan into the ref in the corner. 

TT backdrops Bryan. MJF comes out. Konosuke Takeshita jumps MJF from the side and sends him into the rails. They fight to the back. TT armbars him and Bryan ropebreaks. TT belly to belly suplexes Bryan. Bryan germans TT. TT flying knees him and pins him.

Thoughts: It was what you would expect with them doing mostly submissions and various strikes. It was alright for what it was but not really the classic they had in mind. Bryan won as expected and I don't really see what the point of the ref bump was in this match. Bryan didn't do as many submission as you would think. 

We go to the back. MJF bangs KT's head off a box. He throws a chair and trash can in his face. KT bangs MJF's head off table and they hockey fight. Officials break it up. Renee says they will fight next week in an eliminator match per Tony Khan. MJF gets mad.

Swerve Strickland talks about getting rid of the deadweight in the Mogul Affiliates. He says Dustin Rhdoes is standing his camera with his light and interviewer. He says Dustin isn't here and they find a new nepotism guy to get rid of. Swerve says it's Brian Pillman. 

Rush and Preston Vance are interviewed. MJF interrupts. MJF says he doesn't know Spanish well but he knows the language of money. He shows Rush's crew a suitcase of cash. He says that's free of charge and has 5 more with Rush's name on it if he can beat Bryan Danielson by any means necessary. He asks if he can rip of Bryan's arm and beat him with it. Rush talks in Spanish and Rush's translator says they have a deal. MJF says it sounds like he said more than that.

AEW TBS Title Match - Jade Cargill (c) vs. Red Velvet

Red hits Jade from behind. Red hits Jade from behind. Red thesz presses her and hits mounted shots. Jade back elbows her. Jade is thrown out. Leila Grey checks on Jade outside and Red dropkicks Jade through the ropes. Red gets a 2 count on her and Jade wheelbarrow germans her for 2. Jade slams her and elbow drops her.

We go to PiP break and return. Jade does push up's in the ring. Jade throws her. Red corner dropkicks her and codebreakers her. Red hits leg kicks and a superkicks her in the gut. Jade pump kicks her for 2. Kiera Hogan comes out and pushes Leila Grey into the stpes. Red spin kicks Jade in the head for 2. 

Red does an armbar on Jade. Jade blocks a sunset flip. Jade then hits a jade end and pins her.

Thoughts: It was acceptable. Red got thrown around a little and had a decent comeback before losing here. Jade won and moves to 50-0 in AEW. 

Renee is looking for a medical update on Britt Baker. She says she's fine and if this is how Toni and Saraya want to do things, they can do that too. Ruby Soho comes in and asks Britt if she's good. Britt says those are Ruby's girls. Ruby said she had nothing to do with it. Britt says Ruby knows them a lot longer than they know her and Jamie. Britt says she's good.

AEW TNT Title - No Holds Barred Match - Darby Allin (c) vs. Samoa Joe

DA has a thumbtack jacket on. He backsplashes Joe in the corner and pounds on him. Joe enzugiri's him in the corner. Joe then lariats him with a towel on his hand to avoid the tacks. Joe takes DA's jacket off.

Joe chops him down and stomps on him in the corner. Joe grabs a table from under the ring and DA topes the table into Joe. Joe's head is busted open from that one. DA is sent into steps near the rail. He rolls into those and goes over the rail. Joe hits knees on DA in the crowd then bangs DA's head off a railing. They fight on the steps.  

DA rakes Joe's back. Joe throws him over the rail on the steps. DA's head is banged off a seat. DA is thrown over the rail into ringside. Joe slams DA on the steps. Joe punches DA down in the ring. Joe kicks DA in the chest and fist drops him. 

Joe cranks DA's head and elbows him in the mouth. Joe back elbows DA. Joe stomps on DA.   Joe rakes DA's face. DA hits hard chops. Joe corner uranage's him.  Joe hits chops. Joe running facekis DA out and DA lands hard on the floor. DA jawbreakers out of a choke. DA hits chops on Joe. Joe throws him wildly over the top to the floor.

Joe suplexes DA. Two chairs are opened back to back. Joe backdrops DA on the tops of them. DA puts some kind of powder in Joe's eyes and hits a code red on him for 2. DA does an over the back stunner. DA puts a tack filled hoodie on and coffin drops Joe for 2.

DA cuts off the strings that connect the canvas to the ring. DA tries to tope Joe, Joe moves and DA goes into a table against the rails. Joe powerbombs DA onto a thumbtack hoodie. He then puts the hoodie on DA's face. DA sticks his fingers in Joe's eyes. DA hits Joe with a chair. 

Joe pushes the ref into the ropes and it causes DA to be crotched up top. Joe 2nd rope muscle busters DA on the exposed ring boards. Joe pins Darby.

Thoughts: It was a wild one here with tacks, the ring being exposed, tables, blood and a brawl in the stands. Darby took some nasty looking bumps as usual and both guys got busted open here. This was brutal at times and was a war. I thought it was a really good match here.

Wardlow comes out. He spears Joe and hits mounted shots on him. Joe gets out and security tries to stop Wardlow. Wardlow beats up security. Wardlow then hits a razor's edge on one guard, sending him out onto the other guards to close the show.

Overall thoughts: I thought the opener was okay. The Outrunners got squashed. Cage/Takeshita was an indy style match and I didn't like it. Danielson/Thatcher wasn't quite the technical bout you'd expect but it was okay. Jade/Red was acceptable. Darby/Joe was good and a brutal match. I'd give this a 7 out of 10 as the main was good, they had some variety here and there was a lot of acceptable wrestling on this show. It was a good show overall.