AEW Dynamite
Friday Night Dynamite
May 28th, 2021
Daily’s Place - Jacksonville, FL
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, & Taz
It’s the first ever Friday night edition of Dynamite and the start of Double or Nothing weekend. Plus, we are back to a full capacity crowd which I forgot until we went live and man... it’s something else
1) Darby Allin (w/ Sting) vs. Cezar Bononi
I can’t think of a better way to kick off this show than this. Darby coming out with Sting to an insane reaction from the first full house in over a year. This deadass gave me goosebumps. Such a special feel. I’ve said it before, but Darby is such a star and exudes so much emotion. This wasn’t anything monumental, match wise. Run of the mill, lesser known big guy vs. fan favorite smaller guy. Bononi throws Darby around a little and targets the ribs, but nothing sticks. Darby wins with the coffin drop. This was a blast, honestly.
Match rating - **1/2
Post match, Darby gets on the mic and calls out Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky. They come out and Sky cuts a promo, but there’s no physicality.. until Bononi and his goons attack from behind so Page & Sky join in. The Dark Order makes the save to a BIG pop. Sting & Darby fist bump Dark Order, thanking them for the help. Good way to gather hype for the tag match on Sunday.
Paul Wight is here and is hosting the weigh in between Cody Rhodes and Anthony Ogogo. We don’t get another garbage promo from Cody, but he brings out about 20 people and there’s an American flag waving which is cringe. Ogogo looks cool and like a star. This segment kinda felt like it dragged along and had no real exciting moment. Not that it was BAD, I’m hyped to see Ogogo beat on Cody and the fans were into it for the most part, it just felt a little off.
Inner Circle/Pinnacle video airs hyping their PPV match and their segment later.
Meanwhile, Will Hobbs and Christian Cage brawl backstage, it’s a pretty damn good backstage brawl too. They are both in the Casino Battle Royale this Sunday.
2) Hangman Adam Page vs. Joey Janela (w/ Sonny Kiss)
Poor Hangman had a tough time here. First, he bleeds from the mouth then gets busted open the hard way atop his forehead and gushes blood through the finish and after the match. As a result, this was a lot more intense than you’d probably expect. Very back and forth, but thankfully didn’t overstay its welcome. Page wins with the buckshot.
Match rating - **3/4
In a pretaped video, Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston are burying the Bucks' shoes they stole last week and they ask what’s better than one belt? Two. They say they are the underdogs and they are going to take the Bucks’ titles while everyone else sits on their hands and refuses to stand up to them, essentially.
PAC hits the ring to try and draw some attention to himself before his World Title match with Omega and Cassidy coming up on Sunday. He hasn’t gotten much shine or spotlight so it was important to do this, even if the crowd seemed a little unresponsive to it for whatever reason. Among other things, PAC calls Omega out and instead gets Don Callis on the screen. This serves as a distraction for Omega to attack PAC from behind. He beats him down with help from Anderson & Gallows, Lucha Bros run down to make the save and take care of them. Omega lifts him up for the one winged angel.. CUE WHERE IS MY MIND. Omega stops in his tracks as Chuck Taylor, Kris Statlander, & Trent lead Orange Cassidy to the ring. Cassidy has an envelope with his response to Kenny’s offer to surrender his participation in the AEW Title match on Sunday and have it another time. He hands Omega the letter and it’s all ripped up. ORANGE PUNCH TO OMEGA. BIG POP. Orange then goes to pick up the AEW Title, but PAC stops him only to get floored by Orange as well. Cassidy poses with the belt to close the segment. This was a ton of fun. The World Title match doesn’t feel BIG but I know it will deliver, probably bigger than the monumental matches they’ve tried to give us on prior shows that seemed to fall just short of the huge exceptions they give us sometimes.
Backstage, we’ve got Jade Cargill. Matt Hardy walks up, but Mark Sterling shows up again and it appears they’ve signed a deal after last week and Hardy is v upset about that.
3) Jade Cargill (w/ Mark Sterling) vs. Kilynn King
We got some TALL gals here and it’s pretty sick. Jade’s first match in a while and it was a delight to see her back at it, she’s super good for someone so new, but she could definitely still use the reps. After a little struggle, Jade wins.
Match rating - **
4) Miro (c) vs. Dante Martin - TNT Title Match
First title defense for Miro and man he feels like a big star coming out to this crowd. This continues the momentum he had coming out of his title match and victory. Just no frills or bullshit, just Miro kicking ass. He retains after roughing up poor Dante Martin and has a confrontation post match with his Double or Nothing opponent, Lance Archer.
Match rating - **1/4
Archer & Jake Roberts come out and Miro mocks how Jake always holds Lance back. So, Jake sends him to the ring and we get a PULL APART BIG MAN BRAWL WITH REFS AND SHIT. I liked it. Let’s go.
Hikaru Shida’s one year title reign celebration is next. She is awarded a new title by Tony Schiavone and Bryce Remsburg and for the most part, finally gets the response she deserves from a live audience. She even cuts a promo and it’s great and really establishes her as the babyface, but when Britt Baker interrupts? BOY OH BOY. There’s no denying that she’s the next champion and true star of the division. She may be the heel, but by the end of her promo the crowd is cheering. This can sometimes hinder a match, but I don’t think it will at all on Sunday. People respect Shida too much to boo her so I feel like it’ll be an even split in what I expect to be a show stealing match. Britt says that Sunday begins a new era and like one era was 3 1 6, this era is gonna be D M D. YESSSSSSSSSSSS I AM RILED UP.
5) Evil Uno & Stu Grayson vs. Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page
Uno & Stu.. I’m sorry for sleeping on you recently, you are still one of the best tag teams on the roster and this was so much of a blast that it reminded me of that. So many fun double team moves from them, I think them working with someone like Page who they’ve worked a ton of times in Canada probably let them shine a little more also. This made me wanna see them get another push to a tag title match, just such fun shit. In the end, the goal of the match is fulfilled as Sky & Page sneak away with a victory by the skin of their teeth heading into their big PPV match against the beloved Sting & Darby Allin.
Match rating - ***
Post match, Page & Sky call out Sting & Darby. Darby leads the way with a bunch of fake Sting’s, but one of them turns out to be the real Sting in disguise. He cleans house and yeah!
Eric Bischoff hits the ring to introduce The Inner Circle to close the show. Santana steals the segment with a main event level promo. STRAP THE ROCKET TO HIS ASS TONY. Basically they show an Inner Circle video package highlighting their big moments and each member talks about what the group has meant to them, if by some stretch they lose and have to disband Sunday. Meanwhile, MJF pops up on the screen and he & The Pinnacle have Dean Malenko tied up and beaten on a goal post down at the stadium. Inner Circle flees the arena and runs to the stadium for a crazy brawl that is polished with a DOUBLE PILEDRIVER THROUGH TWO TO TABLES TO THE GROUND from FTR to Santana & Ortiz and jesus it was so fucking gruesome and wild. I almost screamed at 12am. I hate this feud some weeks, but segments like this just hit the nail on the head. It’s Stadium Stampede 2 in less than 48 hours and The Pinnacle seems to have the upper hand. Strong close to the show.
FINAL THOUGHTS: So, my kings at the Everything Elite podcast (I don’t know them, I just listen regularly) said this felt more like a pre show than a go home show and I honestly can’t think of a better way to describe this. This show also was a little better paced than last week. As said before, last week felt cluttered and like everything was sped through, this felt a little more focused even if some segments like the Cody one came off a little flat. None the less, I am SUPER excited for Double or Nothing. Myself, Donnie & Mike will be watching together and might even throw up some group predictions or a review!
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