‘AEW: Dynamite’ Review (Jun 21st 2023)
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW: Dynamite, which was broadcast live from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. We’ve got Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Taz on commentary so let’s get into the review!
Match #1: The Gunns (Austin & Colten Gunn) def. The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy)
The following is courtesy of impactwrestling.com:
The Hardys used tandem offense on Austin, and then on Colten. Colten cracked Jeff with a blindside shot from the apron, taking away Jeff’s momentum. Colten suplexed Jeff. Jeff dropped his shoulder and took Austin out to the arena floor. Colten tagged in but Jeff stunned him with a jawbreaker. Matt Hardy tagged in and cleaned house on the Gunns. Matt connected with a Side Effect on Austin. Matt followed up with a Twist of Fate, but Colten broke up the pinning cadence by placing his brother’s boot on the ropes. Jeff double DDT’ed the Gunns. Jeff sent Colten flying with a Twist of Fate. Jeff climbed to the top rope, but Bullet Club Gold ran down. Juice Robinson distracted the ref while Jay White shoved Jeff off the top rope. The Gunns rocked Jeff with the 3:20 to Yuma and Austin pinned Jeff Hardy.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #2: Concession Stand Brawl – Mark Briscoe def. Jeff Jarrett
The following is courtesy of impactwrestling.com:
The match began in the concourse of the arena. Mark walloped Jeff with a garbage can. Mark sent Jeff crashing into a table. Mark Briscoe squirted mustard on Jeff. Karen Jarrett snuck up and squirted ketchup in Mark’s eyes. Mark set up a ladder and climbed it. Sonjay Dutt climbed it and shoved Mark off the ladder, sending Mark flying and crashing through a table below. Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, and Jeff Jarrett took Mark Briscoe to the ring. Lethal tried to clear the timekeeper’s table but Papa Briscoe was there. Papa Briscoe choke slammed Lethal through the table! Papa Briscoe hit a lariat on Sonjay and Jeff. Karen Jarrett ran in and connected with a low blow on Papa Briscoe. Mark went for the Jay Driller, but Satnam Singh entered the fray and choke slammed Mark! Christopher Daniels and the Best Friends ran down. The Lucha Bros joined the melee. They took down Satnam. Penta El Zero Miedo rocked Jeff Jarrett with a thrust kick in the ring. Mark rolled up Jeff with a schoolboy and pinned him!
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #3: Trios Tag Match – Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki def. Action Andretti, Darius Martin & AR Fox
The following is courtesy of impactwrestling.com:
Sammy and Action locked up. Sammy took down Action with a shoulder block. Both me went for thrust kicks and there was a stalemate. Sammy tagged Suzuki, instead of Jericho. Darius chopped at Suzuki and Suzuki smirked. Suzuki dropped Darius Martin with a vicious forearm. Jericho tagged in and AR Fox walloped Jericho with a lariat in the corner and then a dropkick. Jericho distracted ref Aubrey Edwards while Sammy blasted Fox with a knee to the spine. Action Andretti tagged in and flew in with a big elbow strike to Jericho. Action hit a springboard onto Jericho and followed up with a John Woo style dropkick. Suzuki got in the ring, but Darius tried to stop him. Minoru knocked Darius down with a forearm. Minoru Suzuki grabbed Action Andretti, hoisting him up for the Gotch-style piledriver. But Darius got to his feet and saved Action with a kick to Suzuki’s skull. Sammy was there, though, and rocked Action and Darius with a perfectly timed double cutter! Fox springboarded with a missile dropkick to Sammy. Jericho was rolled up by Action for a near fall. Action wiped out Jericho with a kickoff of the ropes. He followed up with a running shooting star press for a near fall. Darius tagged in but Sammy grabbed him and planted him with a Spanish Fly. AR Fox jumped in and clocked Sammy with a corkscrew brainbuster. Suzuki got a hold of Fox and spiked him with a Gotch-style piledriver. Andretti surprised Suzuki with a hook kick. Jericho then shocked Andretti with the Code Breaker! Darius Martin snuck in from behind Jericho and rolled him up for a near fall. He followed up with a Flatliner off the bottom rope for a two-count on Jericho. Jericho anticipated Darius’ next move, countered with the Lion Tamer, and forced Darius to tap out!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #4: Daniel Garcia & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata
The following is courtesy of impactwrestling.com:
Sabre and Shibata chain wrestled. Sabre was looking for a triangle. Shibata escaped. Sabre put on the Flying Octopus Hold but Shibata escaped that. Garcia tagged in and ate a series of forearms from Shibata. Orange Cassidy tagged in, and he and Garcia had a dance-off. Cassidy dropkicked Garcia. Daniel Garcia used a snap suplex on Orange Cassidy. Sabre and Garcia double teamed Orange Cassidy. Cassidy blasted Sabre with a Stun Dog Millionaire and then made the tag to Shibata. After distraction from Garcia, Sabre clipped Shibata with a sneaky forearm. Orange flew out with a tope to Sabre. Shibata used a butterfly suplex for a near fall on Garcia. Daniel Garcia locked on the Dragon Tamer. Cassidy DDT’ed Sabre. Garcia ran into Shibata with a lariat, but Shibata answered with a pump kick. Shibata was setting up Garcia for a move when Cassidy went for the Orange Punch, but Garcia ducked, and Orange Cassidy inadvertently connected with Shibata! Garcia rolled up Shibata and pinned him!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #5: TBS Championship Match – Kris Statlander def. Taya Valkyrie
The following is courtesy of impactwrestling.com:
Kris dodged a pump kick from Taya. Kris came back with a shoulder tackle to Taya. Taya paint brushed Kris with an openhand strike. Kris swept out Taya’s legs. Taya fired back with a knee strike. Kris rallied back with a moonsault off the apron onto Taya on the floor. Taya butterflied Kris’ arms and then planted her. Kris avoided a curb stomp and followed up with a discus lariat for a near fall. Taya speared Kris Statlander. Taya followed up with a sliding German Suplex. Statlander superplexed Taya! Statlander spiked Taya with the Wednesday Night Fever and pinned Taya!
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 4/5
Despite only having 5 matches on this week’s show – some of which were sub-par – this was still a great episode of Dynamite, mainly due to the tremendous way the show built to Forbidden Door, with both in-ring storytelling and plenty of promos. Now, don’t get me wrong, I typically hate too many promos on a show but this week’s Dynamite was so well-paced that none of them dragged and none ultimately slowed the momentum of this episode – which is not usually the case! The tag match between Garcia, Sabre, Orange and Shibata was, frankly, superb and the fact that AEW brings in guys to wrestle top-quality matches like this and doesn’t let putting their own talent over instead of a “guest wrestler” (for want of a better phrase) spoil these types of team-ups is why AEW is, right now, the better wrestling company… for me at least. YMMV.
