‘AEW: Dynamite’ Review (Jul 10th 2024)
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW: Dynamite, which was broadcast from the Calgary Stampede Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We’ve got Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness and Tony Schiavone on commentary this week, so let’s get into the review!
Match #1: The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Final – Bryan Danielson def. “Hangman” Adam Page
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Jeff Jarrett was the special guest enforcer for this match. Hangman hammered down with right hands on Danielson. Page chopped Bryan into the corner. Danielson dropped down and grabbed a single leg crab, but Page crawled to the ropes, forcing the ref to break the hold. Danielson rocketed out of the ring with a tope suicida to Page. The back of Danielson’s head cracked the ring barricade. Danielson clutched his neck. Danielson connected with a dropkick from the top rope to Page. Danielson charged at Page, but Page countered by raising his boot. Hangman clubbed Danielson with a lariat on the apron. Danielson’s head was busted open, and Page rammed Bryan’s head into the steel ring steps over and over. Back in the ring, they traded strikes. Page blocked a kick from Bryan and applied a swinging sleeper on Bryan. Hangman stomped down on Danielson, as the blood ran into Danielson’s eyes. Page blistered Bryan’s chest with repeated chops. Danielson stunned Hangman, firing back with chops of his own. Danielson applied a flying cross arm breaker. Bryan went over the top and transitioned to the LeBell Lock, but Page broke the hold by touching the ropes with his boot. Danielson rocked Page with round kicks. Hangman countered by picking up Bryan with a fireman’s carry. Danielson tried to fight out of it, but Hangman drilled Bryan right on his neck with a high angle suplex. Danielson snapped Hangman back with a spider German Suplex! Danielson tried for a diving headbutt. Page dodged it! Hangman applied a cross face, but Danielson reached the ropes. Page removed the leather cover off the top turnbuckle and then rammed Danielson’s head into the exposed steel. Page moonsaulted off the top, Danielson countered, but Page stuffed Bryan with a tombstone piledriver for a near fall! Page climbed to the top turnbuckle, but Bryan shoved him off, knocking Page to the arena floor. Danielson jumped with a springboard dive onto Page onto the arena floor, pulling out all the stops. Danielson was clutching his neck once again, potentially suffering a stinger. Danielson clobbered Page with kicks to the chest. Page ducked the knock out shot and spiked Bryan with a piledriver on the floor! Doc Sampson and Jeff Jarrett checked on Danielson. Hangman shoved Doc Sampson out of the way and to the floor. Hangman pie faced Jarrett. Bryan ducked the discus lariat from Page and Danielson countered with a running knee strike! Page and Bryan traded headbutts. Danielson cracked Page with a roundhouse kick. Danielson went for another charging knee strike, but Page dodged it and Danielson inadvertently smashed referee Paul Turner. Page rocked Danielson with a discus lariat. Page whipped Danielson with his leather belt! Jeff Jarrett entered the ring and admonished Page. Hangman shoved Jarrett to the mat. Jeff Jarrett removed his t-shirt to reveal he was wearing a referee uniform. Danielson rolled up Page for a near fall! Hangman escaped a Lebell Lock and nailed Danielson with the Dead Eye, but Danielson kicked out at the two-count! Hangman blasted Bryan with the buckshot lariat! Page went for a second buckshot lariat, but Danielson countered with a rollup pin for a near fall. Hangman transitioned into a cross face submission on Danielson! Jeff Jarrett checked on Danielson, but Danielson’s arm did not drop. Danielson hooked Hangman tight and pinned him!
My Score: 4.5 out of 5
Match #2: Stampede Street Fight – Chris Jericho def. Samoa Joe
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Samoa Joe pummeled Chris Jericho in the corner. Samoa Joe splashed Jericho and then kicked him. Joe followed up with heavy jabs. Jericho fired back with a forearm and then wicked chops to Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe wiped out Bryan Keith outside the ring with an elbow suicida! Chris Jericho whipped Joe into the barricade. Chris Jericho grabbed a steel chair and whacked the chair across Samoa Joe’s back. Chris Jericho pulled a black bag from beneath the ring. Chris Jericho emptied the contents in the ring. Out spilled steel horseshoes. Samoa Joe hoisted up Jericho and dropped him across the horseshoes. Joe followed up with a senton for a near fall. Jericho kicked Samoa Joe with a low blow, perfectly legal in this match. Jericho applied the Walls on Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe grabbed a horseshoe and popped Jericho in the head with one, allowing Joe to escape. Chris Jericho retaliated with a dropkick from the middle turnbuckle. Jericho jumped off the apron, but Samoa Joe walked out of the way. Samoa Joe grabbed Jericho by the hair and pulled him backstage. Jericho threw hot coffee in Samoa Joe’s face. Samoa Joe countered the Judas Effect with a rear naked choke. Big Bill came out from a room and cracked Samoa Joe in the back with a steel chair. Bryan Keith and Big Bill held Samoa Joe back. Chris Jericho wrapped his belt around his fist and punched Samoa Joe in the head. Big Bill and Bryan Keith forcefully put Samoa Joe on a pallet on a forklift. Jericho smiled and drove the forklift through a wall! The walled collapsed onto Samoa Joe! The doctor stopped the match and Chris Jericho was declared the winner. An unconscious Samoa Joe was taken away by paramedics in an ambulance.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #3: Global Glory 4-Way Match – Pac def. Claudio Castagnoli, Kyle Fletcher & Tomohiro Ishii
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Don Callis joined the broadcast booth for this match. Claudio and Ishii traded strikes. Kyle Fletcher blindsided both of them. Claudio cracked Kyle, and then Claudio and Ishii went back at it. Ishii wiped out Claudio with a shoulder tackle, but Pac dropkicked Ishii from the top rope. Kyle Fletcher tripped Pac, but Pac came back with a step-up hurracanrana. Fletcher fired a thrust kick at Claudio. Ishii grabbed Fletcher and dropped Fletcher on Fletcher’s back. Claudio gut wrenched Ishii! Claudio wiped out all three of his competitors with a dive over the top rope to the arena floor. Back in the ring, Ishii cleaned house with a series of headbutts. Pac drilled Kyle with a reverse rana. Claudio clubbed Pac with an uppercut. Fletcher stuffed Ishii with a tombstone piledriver for a near fall! Claudio grabbed Fletcher and hurled him around the ring like a rag doll with the Giant Swing! Claudio applied the Sharpshooter! Pac climbed to the top turnbuckle and dropped an elbow on Fletcher. Pac locked in the Brutalizer on Fletcher! Ishii headbutted Claudio and suplexed Claudio. Ishii decimated Pac with a lariat. Ishii blasted Fletcher with a lariat for a near fall! Claudio grabbed Fletcher and planted him with the Neutralizer. Pac ran in to square off with Claudio. Ishii was rocked by a German Suplex from Pac. Fletcher rolled up Pac for a near fall! Pac climbed to the top turnbuckle and splashed Fletcher with the Black Arrow! Pac locked on the Brutalizer and Fletcher tapped out! Don Callis walked off in disgust.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #4: The Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Final – Mariah May def. Willow Nightingale
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Willow was looking for her version of the Doctor Bomb but Mariah May grabbed the ropes. Willow chopped Mariah May and then wiped out Mariah with a shoulder tackle. Mariah retaliated with a dropkick. Mariah May dropkicked Willow in the spine. Willow blocked a kick from Mariah and then followed up with a cannonball off the apron and down onto Mariah on the arena floor! Mariah regained momentum with a dropkick from the top rope. Mariah May smashed Willow with a hip attack and then a DDT for a near fall on Willow. Willow planted Mariah with a spinebuster out of nowhere. Mariah fought her way out of a sharpshooter attempt. Mariah cracked Willow with a running uppercut in the corner. Mariah wiped out Willow with a hurracanrana for a near fall! Willow avoided a knee strike. Willow blasted Mariah with a fisherman’s bomb for a near fall. Willow went for the pounce, but Mariah countered with a headbutt at the right time, right place. Someone with a Sting sweatshirt jumped onto the apron and tried to distract Willow. As this was transpiring, Toni jumped on the apron on the other side of the ring. Toni distracted the referee. Kris Statlander ambushed Willow with a pump kick! The person in the Sting sweatshirt revealed themselves to be Stokley Hathaway, and he and Kris Statlander ran to the back, laughing the entire way. Mariah May nailed Willow with a running knee strike! Willow kicked out at the two-count! Mariah was looking for May Day, but Willow escaped. Mariah rolled up Willow with a cradle, but Willow escaped the pin attempt. Mariah May hit a lariat on Willow for a two-count! Willow splashed Mariah with a cannonball in the corner! Willow hoisted up Mariah in the center of the ring, looking for the Death Valley Driver, but Mariah countered with a roll up and pinned Willow!
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 4/5
Four weeks, FOUR weeks. That’s how many weeks Dynamite has been on a hot streak, delivering better and better shows each week. And this week it’s another absolutely unmissable show featuring a solid two hours of wrestling across the board – and that’s with only four matches on the card! Once again, and this sounds like a broken record but the tournament, like ALL tournaments in wrestling IMHO, elevated this show from the standard weekly TV fare. The opening match was SUPERB and the closing match, the women’s tournament main event, was marked not only by a good match (which was let down slightly by the shenanigans that went on – though it did make Willow beatable for once) but THAT post-match ending, THAT closing shot of the show. F**king tremendous!
