The July 12th edition of AEW Dynamite offered Chris Jericho versus Komander, Swerve Strickland versus the premiering Nick Wayne, Skye Blue versus Ruby Soho, Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin versus Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia, and MJF and Adam Cole versus Big Bill and Brian Cage. All that and the confirmation of the final members for Blood & Guts next week between the Blackpool Combat Club and the Elite.
Highlights:
- The night kicked off with Chris Jericho versus Komander. Fun back-and-forth match with plenty of crazy spots for Komander before Jericho got the win by pulling out the Lion Tamer. Following the match Don Callis hit the ring playing on his longtime friendship with Jericho (including showing some fun old 90s tape of them together in the ring) in another attempt to woo Jericho to joining the Callis Family. Later in the night, we got a backstage interview with Renee Paquette capturing Jake Hager confronting Jericho to see what the JAS leader is planning. Not getting the answer he wanted, Jake turned in his hat and walked away from Jericho (and apparently the JAS) at least for the time being.
- We got a second pre-taped bonding segment caught up with MJF and Adam Cole at a bar and playing AEW Fight Forever and winning the tag titles from FTR in the game. Another fun segment with Cole, despite his reaction to some of Max’s behavior, slowly being won over by MJF. This was followed up by a backstage interview segment with a concerned Roddy Strong checking in with his friend’s head space which then led into the pair’s match against Big Bill and Brian Cage. We got Max playing into Adam Cole’s intro again, this time with Cole’s approval, and Cole showed up in the pair’s t-shirt as promised. Despite MJF’s reluctance to take on much larger opponents (and his inability to body slam Bill at the beginning of the match), Cole talked him into staying. Great match with MJF playing up to the crowd as a face, getting a huge pop when he was eventually able to body slam Bill. Cole and MJF pick up the win to the delight of the crowd (and the utter dismay of Tony Schiavone). We got an in-ring promo immediately following the match where MJF got a double-clothesline chant from the crowd and story time with Adam Cole. This team will inevitably crash and burn, but I’m loving the unexpected pairing and want to see more every week.
- We got a promo segment with Nick Wayne discussing his family, training with his father, and continuing his training after his father’s death. Wayne’s match with Swerve Strickland was saved for the night’s main event. Amazing match that played on the pair’s familiarity with each other in the ring. Wayne got over huge with the crowd. Highlight was a top rope reverse-hurricanrana from the top rope that Swerve barely kicked out of before getting the pin in vicious heel fashion earning him more heat with the crowd and also furthered his feud with Darby. All in all a great debut that worked on multiple levels.
- Ruby Soho, with the Outcasts at ringside (until their shenanigans got them ejected), took on Skye Blue in an Owen Hart Tournament Semi-Final. Back-and-forth match with Soho, not Blue, getting the clean win and advancing to the finals. Match could have gone either way, and I was certainly rooting for Skye but I can understand AEW wanting to give the Outcasts more time in the tournament.
- In the Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy faced off against JAS members Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia. The match tried to play on Garcia and Guevara not being on the same page which felt out of nowhere as that has not being part of either man’s story for several months (and even Guevara’s recent issues with Jericho seems to have faded away). Despite that story beat not really working, the four put on a really fun match with all four working well together in the ring. Guevara got the win with a pin on Allin after some interference by Swerve Strickland.
- Don Callis closed out the night in the ring with some harsh words for Kenny Omega leading to Kenny emerging from the back only to get attacked by the Blackpool Combat Club and Pac who was revealed to be the partner chosen for Blood & Guts. The Elite hit the ring to save Kenny and announce their final member to be Kota Ibushi.
Less Notable
- Recap of the Jack Perry and Hook feud led into a parking lot interview with Perry and him running from Hook again.
- Collision recap.
- Rap Class with Harley Cameron. Certainly better than expected, but otherwise not really notable other than its odd placement on the card right before the night’s main event.
