AEW DYNAMITE 10/25/23 REVIEW: WOOO PHILLY GETS A GOOD ONE

Wednesday night I made a very last impulsive decision to go attend Dynamite live. Although the card looked perfect on paper, over the last couple of weeks we have seen some good segments and some bad segments across all three AEW televised shows. However, last night's show was really good. The matches furthered storylines heading into Full Gear, plus the episode featured a gift that I do not think anyone in Philadelphia expected.

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Dynamite Diamond Ring: MJF vs Juice Robinson:

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We saw color early on in this match as Robinson was busted open, but these two killed it. Robinson has finally gotten into his groove in AEW and is a part of one of the most entertaining groups in the company right now. This match was perfect and I was shocked MJF retained, guess there is a reason why he is the King of the Diamond Ring.

Winner: MJF

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After the match was over, Bullet Club Gold attacked MJF from behind as The Acclaim made the save. The Gunns challenged MJF for the ROH Tag Team Championships (Imagine if these titles got defended on the ROH programming) at Full Gear. MJF accepts and then gets challenged for an eight-person tag team match, against the entire Bullet Club Gold. The Kingdom and Rodrick Strong offer to be his partners, but MJF says no. The Acclaim offers the same resignment but MJF hates scissoring so he also says no. If that was not enough Kenny Omega then confronts MJF and challenges him for a title match this Saturday on Collision. If MJF wins he will be the longest reigning AEW Champion of all time. MJF accepts. This was way too much. I understand MJF has four different storylines going on, but if you were a new fan tuning in for this episode of Dynamite you would have needed clarification.

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We also got a pre-taped Wardlow promo and he wants a shot at MJF as well. Poor Max.

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Hook and RVD vs Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds):

An ECW homecoming! The reaction to RVD in Philly was insane as to be expected. This match was more of an attraction match for RVD to come back to Philly so nothing special happened here. Hook and RVD get the win.

Winners: Hook and RVD

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 Timeless Toni Storm:

In this silent film, it gets announced that Luther is now Toni Storm's butler. This makes the most sense since Serpentico is now getting pushed on ROH TV with Angelico, so Luther is not needed in that spot anymore. It also gets announced that Storm will face Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship at Full Gear, in the biggest Hollywood Blockbuster. Just give her the title already. She should have been the one who beat Saraya.

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Sting’s Gift from Tony Khan:

I do not think anyone would have expected this to be a gift from Tony Khan. Sting starts by thanking Philly and Darby Allin for being the best tag team partner when Ric Flair comes out! Philly went crazy for this, there were even a couple of people crying in the crowd. Flair says that Sting has always brought out the best of him and he is here for the entire ride till Sting's retirement early next year. Cue Christian Cage. Cage says Flair should have died 20 years ago and continues to dig at Sting, Allin, and Flair. Cage lays out the challenge for a six-person tag at Full Gear and tells Sting to find himself a real partner who can wrestle since Flair can’t. The Philly crowd hated Chrisitan and this segment was cool to see live. Although we do not know exactly what Flair is doing on AEW TV it was nice to see the reunion with him and Sting live.

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ROH Six Man Championship: Hangman Adam Page and The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) vs The Hardy’s (Matt and Jeff Hardy) and Brother Zay:

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Can we please defend the ROH Championships on the ROH TV show? Besides that point, Isiah shined in this match and at points had the crowd believing he and The Hardys were going to win the titles. This match was fine, but it was truly what happened after this match that made people more intrigued.

Winners: “And Still” Hangman Adam Page and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)

 

Home Invasion Angle:

You know a feud has entered the personal level when you get a home invasion angle. Swerve Strickland goes into Page’s house and has a conversation with his young son. He tries to convince the baby that Page has wronged him and he needs to get revenge, He is going to hurt his dad to the point of no return. As Prince Nana tries to convince Strickland that they need to leave he throws his new shirt at the baby and says, “So your dad knows that I was here”. I love this type of stuff, builds to such a heated rivalry, more of this!

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AEW Women’s Championship Match: Hikaru Shida vs Ruby Soho:

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Well, this match happened. To be honest, Soho is such a hit-or-miss wrestler and this was sadly one of those opportunities where it was a miss. I did enjoy the Eddie Guerrero spot where she tries to accuse Shida of spraying her with the spray paint and the live crowd liked it too. Shida retains and after the match, Toni Storm and Shida have a stare-down to build to their match in a couple of weeks.

Winner: “And Still” Hikaru Shida

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Adam Copeland Promo:

Renee Paquette asks Copeland if he is considering being the third partner for the six-man tag at Full Gear. He says that he does not want to fight Cage because he sees him as a brother. Sting and Allin confront Copeland and Sting tells him to wake up. He says that he needs to be the one to react to Cage before Cage does something worse to him. Spoilers, Copeland will be the third man on Sting and Allin’s team.

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Claudio Castignoli & Bryan Danielson vs Orange Cassidy & Kazuchika Okada:

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Always a joy to see Okada live. This match was so much fun. There were teases for a second match between Okada and Danielson and the overall ring work from all four men was phenomenal. This was probably one of the best Dynamite main events of the year. Cassidy’s family was sitting in the front row with mini Orange Cassidy heads to cheer the hometown guy on which was funny. Shockingly Castagnoli and Danielson pick up the win as Castagnoli pins Cassidy. After the match, The Best Friends come out as well as The BCC and they have a major stare down. Not sure what that is leading to, but I guess we shall see.

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Winners: Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli

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Overall Thoughts:

I have been to a lot of Dynamites this year, but this one was by far my favorite one. You can tell we are building up to a huge Full Gear pay-per-view and the live crowd was all over this week's episode. Seeing Okada, RVD, and Ric Flair live was also a fun treat for the Philly crowd who had not seen an AEW show in 13 months.