Wednesday, April 21, 2021

AEW: Dynamite Review - April 7th, 2021

AEW: Dynamite

April 7th, 2021

Daily's Place - Jacksonville, FL

1) Hangman Page vs. Max Caster 

In all honesty, I tuned in at the tail end of this, but what I caught was a lot of fun. Caster’s first big singles match and it got a decent amount of time, not sure how the first half was, but second half delivered and was an enjoyable way to start the show. Page wins. 

Match rating - **1/4

2) Jurassic Express vs. Bear Country 

I, for some reason, always find myself not super excited for Jurassic Express related matches even though they deliver every time. I guess that probably makes me enjoy them that much more. But yeah that was the case here. Bear Country isolates Jungle Boy after a chaotic opening few minutes. Luchasaurus gets the hot tag. The work in between was good and the finish sequence rocked with several great near falls and some unique spots. Jurassic Express prevails with an insane standing moonsault from Luchasarus. 

Match rating - ***

3) Darby Allin (c) (w/ Sting) vs. J.D. Drake (w/ Ryan Nemeth & Cezar Bononi) - TNT Championship Match

Another good defense for Darby here. I hadn't seen as much of JD Drake prior to this as others so there wasn't much anticipation, but he definitely delivered and didn't look out of place at all in his first big match in the promotion. Darby retains after a hell of a battle with Drake throwing him around and giving him a run for his money.

Match rating - ***1/4 

After the match, The Butcher & The Blade blindside Darby Allin on the stage. The Bunny starts yelling for the commentators to clear the table. Meanwhile, Sting shows up with his bat, plus the Dark Order comes out! Hell yes! Bunny turns around and sees all of them AND TAY CONTI JUMPS HER! They start brawling and their match is next I guess? (I was wrong) Awesome angle, but kinda wish they woulda just cut right to the match.

Video package for Omega/Good Brothers vs. Mox/Bucks that makes it feel like a BIG match. I am very excited. 

Back from commercial and Chris Jericho is backstage for an interview only to get attacked by MJF AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. All six members of The Pinnacle attack Jericho. Come to find out, they locked the rest of the Inner Circle in their locker room. Cameras cut to them kicking/breaking their way out of it through the door. Meanwhile IRON MIKE TYSON HITS THE RING AND CLEARS OUT THE PJNNACLE THROWING SHOTS TO SHAWN SPEARS OMFG LMAO. This rules. Inner Circle finally makes it down and clears the ring with Tyson. The Pinnacle throws a bunch of shit in the crowd and throw a hissy fit basically as Inner Circle & Tyson stare them down and taunt them. Jericho & Tyson shake hands and the group poses together. It’s Pinnacle vs. Inner Circle in Blood & Guts in May 5th. OH HELL YEAH. This feud has been sooooo many miles better than I ever would’ve anticipated. 

4) The Bunny vs. Tay Conti 

BRODIE LEE JR/-1 is here! Hikaru Shida is also here with Dark Order. Matt Hardy is with Bunny. EVERBODYS HERE. And these ladies are here and they tear it up. Just fun stuff here. Lots of overbooking near the end, but it’s a blast so fuck it. Tay Conti overcomes some interference attempts thanks to Hikaru Shida and gets the win. 

Match rating - **1/2

5) Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, & Doc Gallows vs. Jon Moxley & The Young Bucks

My initial response to this was about par for the course with everyone else. The match is fine and the storytelling is there, but how many times have we seen this? The Young Bucks torn and distraught. Elite / Bullet Club related dissension. It is tired and has been happening since this promotion started off & on so the angle at the end of this match came off as a very tired, anticlimactic ending. Now, looking back a second time after seeing how well they followed this up the next week, I can appreciate it with new eyes and admit that they pulled this off pretty well. I loved the bit with Moxley coming in and getting pissed when the Bucks started hesitating to hit the BTE trigger on Kenny. But yeah, you know what happened here. Bucks hesitate to hit the trigger on Kenny, Mox comes in and shoves them and hits two deathrider DDT’s on Omega only to get super kicked by his own partners for the night. Matt Jackson’s sigh and “dammit” after they did this ruled. Eddie Kingston hobbles out on his injured leg to try to help Mox only to get clobbered by Karl Anderson. Bucks assist Omega in pinning Moxley and the show closes with Omega & The Good Brothers & Don Callis embracing with The Young Bucks. 

Match rating - ***3/4 

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