‘All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite’ Review (Aug 12th 2020)

Welcome to this week’s All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have my prostate hitched to a tractor trailer. Hey, it’s Dynamite, baby! We’ve got orange juice fighting Winnipeg, you idiot! Paul Williams used to drink and now he doesn’t, so rock n’ roll, ass-hole! Dynamite starts…BOOM!…like the clap (OW!).

Match #1: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) def. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson)

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

During their entrance, the Bucks were ambushed by the minions from The Dark Order! “It’s all about the numbers,” said Jim Ross, as the Bucks were outmanned. The Dark Order used their symbiotic offense on Nick Jackson. “Mr. Brodie’s leadership is really paying off here,” noted Jim Ross. Matt tagged in and took out both members of the opposition with a double clothesline! Nick spring boarded off the top rope with an arm drag on Grayson. “Evil Uno may be the most underrated wrestler in all of AEW,” said Jim Ross. “I think you can say the same thing about Stu Grayson because of his intensity,” added Taz. Evil Uno raked Matt Jackson’s eyes. Grayson dropkicked Matt to the outside; while the ref was distracted, Uno was on the outside of the ring and rammed Matt’s back into the ring’s edge! Uno tagged himself in and headbutted Matt’s kidney area. He tried to fishhook Matt’s eye but Matt pushed him away to create some distance. Matt came back with a spear on Evil Uno and crawled toward Nick for the tag. Nick came in and cleaned house with a bulldog lariat combo! Nick and Matt had the advantage now and used their patented high-risk tag offense on Evil Uno! The Bucks’ momentum was short-lived, though. The Dark Order connected with a brainbuster 540 kick combo on Nick Jackson, but Matt made the save to stop the pin attempt on his brother. The minions of The Dark Order blocked Matt Jackson at the entrance ramp from being able to return to the ring. Meanwhile, Uno and Grayson had Nick Jackson alone and he had to fend for himself, without his brother’s help. Evil Uno and Grayson went for their Fatality finisher on Nick, but Nick rolled up Evil Uno for the pin!

My Opinion: 3.4 out of 5 – These two teams have good chemistry together and it showed here, but this match was all about Stu. Good God! That Stu can wrestle and has a body so loose that he might as well be a rubber-band. I really could go for more of just Stu kicking ass, but we’ve got Uno as well and he did just fine. This was Uno’s best performance in some time and it was worth watching as well. The Bucks worked hard here, but peaked in the first half of the bout. That being said, Stu made this sucker taste sweet with every lick.

Match #2: Cody [Rhodes] (with The Nightmare Family—Arn Anderson, Brandi Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, Allie and QT Marshall) def. Scorpio Sky – TNT Championship Match

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Legendary referee Mike Chioda was the official for this match! The Nightmare Family left the ringside area once the match began, except for head coach Arn Anderson, and Brandi Rhodes. Cody went for a body press but Scorpio ducked it. Cody rolled outside and Scorpio Sky held the ropes for him and invited him back in. The two men locked up and after a reversal of a hip toss, Sky was tossed out. This time it was Cody holding the ropes for Sky, but Sky brushed away the offer. Cody took Sky over the top rope with a nasty lariat! Sky hit Cody with body shots in the rib area, the same rib area that was worked over in Cody’s match last week. Sky clearly had Cody scouted. Sky dropped Cody’s midsection across the top rope. He put Cody in the Tree of Woe and stomped Cody’s ribs. He followed up by pulling Cody’s ribs straight into the steel ring post! Sky applied the abdominal stretch. “The perfect move to go to here,” said Jim Ross. Sky drilled Cody with a cutter face first on the outside ramp! Cody kicked out at two! Sky went to hook Cody for a suplex but he must have tweaked his back on the cutter and had to let go of the champ. Cody countered with a superplex! Sky tried for his TKO finisher but now Cody countered with CrossRhodes! Sky kicked out! “Who the hell kicks out of the CrossRhodes?” asked Jim Ross in amazement and disbelief. Sky went for a cutter but Cody dodged it, just barely. Cody quickly followed with a second CrossRhodes on Scorpio Sky and finally finished him off, scoring the pin! “Sky wrestled a beautiful match and the opportunity just slipped by,” said Jim Ross.

My Opinion: 3.7 out of 5 – This was a very strong match that featured Sky’s best wrestling in some time, while Cody had a personal best of his own. Every move came together and had suspense with each second that passed by. Sky really felt like a big deal here and, while he should not have won here, he absolutely deserved to be pushed as a top contender like he was throughout this whole thing. I want a re-match between these two before it’s too late.

Match #3: Kenny Omega & Adam Page def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus with Marko Stunt) – AEW World Tag Team Championship Match

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Kenny and Jungle Boy squared off. Kenny pushed Jungle Boy into the ropes and Marko jumped on the apron to interfere. Kenny slapped Marko in the face, knocking him off the ring apron. Marko grabbed Kenny by the ankle, giving Jungle Boy enough time to hit a dropkick. Luchasaurus tagged in and planted Kenny! The commentators wondered if Kenny had his nose broken there. “Yeah, he’s definitely slowed down,” observed Tony Schiavone. “I think it happened when he was dropped on his face,” speculated Taz. Page was finally tagged in and made a quick impact with a lariat on Jungle Boy. The champs sandwiched Jungle Boy but he chopped his way out of a bad situation. Luchasaurus came in and connected with a headbutt and then an enormous dinosaur-sized boot to Kenny! He launched Hangman with a chokeslam and then hit a standing moonsault! Hangman kicked out at two! Kenny was tagged in and used the V-trigger on Luchasaurus’s spine! It was a direct hit, right on target! He hit two snapdragon supelexes and then one on Marko on the outside for good measure! Page was tagged in and the champs used a tandem assault on the challengers. Luchasaurus double choke slammed Page and Omega and momentum shifted back in favor of the challengers. But Jungle Boy missed a clothesline and Hangman chucked him over the top rope to the outside onto Luchasaurus. Page powerbombed Jungle Boy. The champs finished off Jungle Boy with the Last Call—their buckshot lariat/V-Trigger combo, with Kenny scoring the pin!

My Opinion: 3.5 out of 5 – This turned out well enough, with Page stealing the show this time out. Omega and everybody else looked great, but Page was the star here. Who woulda thought playing a drunk would make Page into such a big thing? The action here was either measured or chaos, which worked out well this time. There’s plenty of hard hits here to go with the big flips, so don’t worry about substance being absent. All in all, this was good fun and a fine prize fight that is a step behind some others, but not below.

Match #4: Hikaru Shida def. Heather Monroe

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Monroe was aggressive out of the gate. Monroe draped Shida’s throat over the middle rope and pushed down with her body weight, using her leg. Shida rallied back with a running knee strike! Shida climbed up the turnbuckles but Monroe brought her down with a swift kick. Shida suplexed Monroe into the corner turnbuckles! Shida tried for the Falcon Arrow but Monroe reversed it and almost scored an upset victory in her debut! It was a wakeup call for the champ. Shida locked in a submission finisher and Monroe tapped!

My Opinion: 2.6 out of 5 – This was a squash for Shida…A SQUASH? A SQUASH?! A SQUAAAASSH!!!!!!!!

Match #5: Orange Cassidy def. Chris Jericho

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Mike Chioda was the referee. In an interview held earlier in the night, Chioda promised to call it right down the middle even though he’s known Jericho for years. In that same interview, Jericho reminded Chioda that the ref owed him for saving his job years ago. Jericho was not so subtly implying that tonight might be a good time for Chioda to return the favor. The wrestling match broke out with a hockey fight! Cassidy wasted no time with the superman punch to Jericho. Orange hit a crossbody over the top rope onto Jericho on the outside! “Jericho is getting schooled,” said Jim Ross. Orange put his hands in his pockets and took flight off the top rope, down onto Jericho on the outside! Orange went for another superman punch but Jericho timed it perfectly and nailed him with a kick. “Jericho has slowed the pace here,” noted Jim Ross. “Chris has mounted a comeback of his own,” said Tony Schiavone. Jericho blasted Orange with a springboard dropkick. It knocked Orange to the arena floor! Le Champion held a stalling vertical suplex and finally dropped Orange to the mat! Orange kicked out at two after a Lionsault from Jericho! Orange lured Jericho with light paint brush strikes, but then hit him with everything he had in the form of a clothesline! He torqued Jericho with consecutive dragon screws. Orange tried to hit Jericho from the turnbuckles but Jericho caught him and put him in the Lion Tamer! Orange squeezed out and applied an ankle lock on Jericho! Orange used a cutter on Jericho! Le Champion fought back and followed up with a Code Breaker on Orange for a near fall! Jericho walked over to the corner and grabbed his baseball bat. Jericho ordered Mike Chioda to turn around, but Chioda took the bat away instead. Orange hit a Falcon Arrow on Jericho! He followed through with the Orange Punch! Santana and Ortiz tried to run down but Best Friends stopped them in their tracks on the entrance ramp! The referee saw this and turned to make sure they weren’t going to interfere. Unfortunately, Jake Hager was able to sneak down unnoticed. Hager grabbed Orange and suplexed him hard onto the mat! “It was a hit and run by Hager!” said Jim Ross. Jericho wasted no time and covered Orange but “Freshly Squeezed” kicked out! They exchanged forearms! Jericho missed the Judas Effect and Orange rolled up Le Champion in a mousetrap and pinned Jericho! “This is the biggest win of Orange’s career! He finally pinned Jericho!” said Tony Schiavone.

My Opinion: 3.8 out of 5 – This was just what OC needed…and more Rachel Bilson…mmmmmmmm. Jericho gave OC the ol’ Terry Funk put-over, which is what Jericho is in AEW for. OC fought like he could take on twenty men, because he is the master of kokk. What is…kokk? Kokk is that feeling of pride when you rise above adversity and dominate one thrust at a time. Kokk is taking life by the balls and stroking your troubles away. Kokk is just cock with a couple of extra “k”s! OC has kokk and that is why he won this bout…and he was booked to win, but that’s beside the point. If you want a kokk with a lot of action, then get a hooker with daddy issues…and this match was fabulous.

News Of The Night:

1. Jake “The Snake” Roberts was backstage telling the audience what instilling fear means while Lance Archer beat the shit out of people.
2. The Young Bucks and FTR were in the ring with The Rock ‘N Roll Express and Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard for Tag Team Appreciation Night, but it all led to Arn leaving and FTR attacking RNRE.
3. Santana and Ortiz were backstage and they destroyed the luggage and gear of Best Friends.
4. Brodie Lee challenged for the TNT Title on Saturday, August 22nd, on DYNAMITE.
5. Matt Hardy wants revenge on Sammy Guevara.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

This was a good show that had a couple of top-notch matches and some good action in other places.