The July 5th edition of AEW Dynamite featured Dr. Britt Baker vs Ruby Soho, Kenny Omega vs. Wheeler Yuta, and Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, MJF, and Adam Cole in blind eliminator tag action.
Highlights:
- The night started off with a backstage interview and a few harsh words from Darby Allin to Keith Lee leading into the blind eliminator tag team match with Allin and Orange Cassidy taking on Lee and Swerve Strickland. The pre-match commentary played on both Lee’s history with Strickland and him tagging with Orange Cassidy last week. The match started out hot with Keith Lee launching Darby into orbit across the ring and hard slapping Cassidy to the ground before the pair used some tag team moves to finally force a tag to Swerve. Great moves all around including a tower of doom suplex and Keith walking up the stairs with Cassidy holding him in a sleeper hold and Darby trapped under the steps. Allin won with the Last Supper capping a hell of a great match.
- Fun spots of MFJ and Adam Cole training together in the gym leading to a great night for the pair both in and out of the ring. Later in the night we got a backstage interview with Renee Paquette, Roderick Strong, and one of the trainers discussing his recovery with Adam Cole checking in with him which then led directly into the MJF and Cole tag match against the Butcher and Matt Menard (with MJF worming his way into every aspect of Cole’s intro routine). The theme of the match was Max repeatedly attempting to get Cole to skirt the rules and do a double-clothesline. Post-match interview segment featured MJF using the crowd to push another bro-session for the pair this week and throw an impromptu birthday segment for Cole (to Cole’s discomfort and the crowd’s enjoyment). The pair stays together for another week to the delight of everyone except Roderick Strong.
- Pre-taped interview segment with Darby Allin talking about his history with Nick Wayne laying the foundation for the 18 year-old’s eventual premiere with AEW.
- Recap of Eddie Kingston winning the NJPW Strong Openweight Tile which lead into a pre-taped segment featuring Jon Moxley discussing his friendship with Kingston.
- Renee had a backstage interview with Britt Baker heading into their match setting up the rematch of last year’s Owen Hart Tournament Final with Ruby Soho. Baker brought out last year’s belt for both the interview and her walk to the ring. Ruby came out with the Outcasts who performed their usual brand of ringside shenanigans leading to a win for Soho and a quick staredown at the top of the ramp for Soho and her next opponent Skye Blue. Soho felt a bit sluggish on a couple of spots making me wonder if she possibly got injured or got her bell rung at some point but it didn’t play into the finish of the match.
- Pre-taped promo segment setting up the Wheeler Yuta and Kenny Omega match later tonight playing on Yuta previously pinning him. The pair were given the main event spot on the card with the match playing on Omega being banged up recently (and his losing streak since Callis turned on him). Kenny pulled out a hard-fought win despite interference from Takeshita but got jumped by both Claudio Castagnoli and Takeshita following the match which brought out the Elite and the Dark Order to close the show. Match was strong, but the closing segment felt a bit rushed and ran out of air time.
- Chris Jericho came out for an in-ring promo segment discussing his recent losing streak and his history with Alberta and his plans of reinvention which were interrupted by Don Callis. Huge local cheers for Jericho and boos for Callis ending in Jericho not necessarily ruling out a partnership with Callis down the line. Followed up later with a backstage segment with Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara confronting Chris’ “maybe” to Callis and learning they are the latest team in the blind eliminator tournament.
- Recap of Jungle Boy‘s in-ring promo last week leading into Perry arriving tonight and his interview with Tony Schiavone in the parking garage only to be jumped by Hook and running away again despite his big talk about wanting a match between the pair.
- Backstage segment featuring the reveal of Matt Hardy‘s tag-team partner for AEW Rampage to be Jeff Jarrett.
Less Notable:
- Trio action with the Acclaimed and Daddy Ass against the Bollywood Boyz and the Blade. Harley Cameron interrupted the post-match scissor celebration. Nothing bad here, but all of it was less notable than other matches on the show.
- Recap of Samoa Joe‘s match on AEW Collision and his match with CM Punk coming up this Saturday.
