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AEW Reviews

“Just Stay Down” – AEW Dynamite – August 5th, 2020 Review

ByM P Wilson

Aug 7, 2020 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Elite & FTR vs The Dark Order

When I saw a 12-man tag match was scheduled, I was worried it was going to be more messy than last week’s 10-man match. Luckily, this was paced far better.

This was a frenetic opener that set off the show on a good foot. All members of the Elite were sensational with the Bucks hitting their deft defying dives, Omega and Page with their great chemistry and FTR with their old school fundamentals adding grit to the whole affair.

On top of this, the Dark Order were on fire too. Brodie Lee worked great as the big man puppet master, Alan Angels got a great showing and Evil Uno and Stu Grayson were tremendous and showed they’re far more than the Dark Order B team. The one exception was the other Dark Order member in the match who’s selling was as melodramatic as a Power Ranger putty.

Unfortunately, during the match, Dax Harwood appeared to suffer a knee injury as the Elite and Cash Wheeler had to help him to the back. Hopefully, it’s nothing too severe.

A standout moment in the match near the end saw Brodie Lee allow Page to hit his Orihara Moonsault leaving him and Page as the only pair left to face off. In the space of one standoff, it suddenly made these two facing off a really exciting prospect. It’s a pairing I’ve not thought about but would definitely love to see.

The match would end when Hangman Page narrowly dodged hitting Kenny Omega with his Buckshot Lariat and stuttered long enough to allow Lee to hit his discus lariat and get the pin.

Best Friends vs Santana and Ortiz

These two teams followed up with a great tag match that was a slower affair than the opener but didn’t slouch by any means.

Both teams went back and forth for the majority of the match, trading momentum consistently. A fun dosey-doe counter led into a flurry from Best Friends that culminated in a big hug.

Santana and Ortiz took back control of the match as they began brutalising Trent and keeping him isolated from Chuck Taylor.

Trent managed to get the hot tag as he and Taylor hit a huge tower of doom spot onto Ortiz but Santana made sure to intervene before any sort of pinning attempt could be attempted.

A tag team rolling cutter could only muster a two-count for Santana and Ortiz and a follow-up Street Sweeper attempt was intervened by Chuck Taylor allowing Trent to roll up Ortiz for the cheeky win.

A really fun tag match and Santana and Ortiz looked more effective than they have in a while.

Later in the night, Santana and Ortiz demolished Trent’s mom’s van as revenge for their loss. An angry Trent and Taylor responded that you don’t mess with Sue and they will force Santana and Ortiz to apologise to her in person…. over speakerphone. We’re in a pandemic after all.

Matt Hardy becomes himself

Hardy came out to the ring to address the crowd saying he had been having a blast with the multiverse but was listening to his audience who wanted him to be Matthew Hardy. He talked about wanting to give back, which he’s been doing with Private Party, but Sammy Guevara was not taking his advice and he’d had enough.

After calling him a “bum boy” for Jericho, Hardy said he didn’t want to help him anymore. He wanted to hurt him.

Guevara had snuck behind Hardy but Hardy knew he’d come and the two began brawling.

Hardy went to set up a table but Guevara blindsided him and then lobbed a chair at Hardy. The leg of the chair caught Hardy’s forehead causing him to bleed profusely.

With Hardy laid out on the table, Guevara leapt off the stage and clattered Hardy through the table.

The amount of blood looked nasty but actually really added to the angle and made Guevara’s assault look brutal. It’s certainly added a lot of heat to this angle and I’m really excited to see what Hardy can do as ‘Matthew Hardy’.

TNT Champion Cody & Matt Cardona vs Alex Reynolds & John Silver

These four men had a very good match overall but were odd for several reasons. One, as what seems to be a course correction attempt tonight for the Dark Order folks, Reynolds and Silver were far more competent than they’ve been in a long time getting a fair amount of offence in and an overall impressive showing.

The reason this was so odd is that this was Matt Cardona’s first match. Cardona looked strong here too but not as strong as he could have. It’s questionable logic to have Cardona’s debut also be a chance for Reynolds and Silver to get a chance to have a competitive match.

It feels like they couldn’t decide whether to have a TNT Championship-style mid-carder showcase or give the spotlight to Cardona.

The match was still an enjoyable watch and had a great flow and action but the booking was a little bizarre.

Despite looking impressive and even nearly getting a two-count on Cardona, Reynolds and Silver would lose the match after Silver and Cody tumbled out of the ring with a scary-looking duelling suplex spot and Cardona took the opportunity to finish of Reynolds with the Radio Silence.

As Cody headed to the ring, Scorpio Sky met him at the stage area. Sky making it clear he’s got his eyes on the TNT championship next week.

AEW Super Wednesday Debate 2020 with Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy

Starting things off, Jericho’s surprise moderator turned out to be Eric Bischoff. Nothing Bischoff did was anything to write home about but he seemed to be having so much fun with it that it made the whole proceeding more fun as a whole.

Jericho came out suited and booted ready for the debate whereas Cassidy had come out in his usual jean jacket attire. When Jericho pointed out how scruffy he looked, Cassidy put on a clip-on tie.

Jericho laid into Cassidy as the first few questions addressed why they hate each other and who was the biggest star. Cassidy remained stoically silent.

Bischoff came out of the left field with a question about rising sea levels and its effect on the global climate. Jericho scoffed at the question but Cassidy fired back with an eloquent answer. Jericho was speechless for the first time tonight.

The final question was why the rematch means so much to both of them. As Jericho began to answer, Cassidy interrupted and told him to shut up. Cassidy hit his first major promo in AEW stating Jericho set up the debate in an attempt to embarrass him. He said he didn’t care about that but he did care about next week’s match against Jericho. He pointed out how embarrassed Jericho is going to feel when he loses to the guy who puts his hands in his pockets.

Bischoff announced Cassidy was the winner before Hager and Jericho beat the snot out of Cassidy and left him lying in the middle of the ring after a Judas Effect.

Cassidy’s promo wasn’t earth-shattering but it did have the power necessary to elevate his character and make his continued feud with Jericho all the more interesting. I’m very intrigued to see how Cassidy develops from here outside of a one-note joke.

Big Swole vs Britt Baker’s opponent of choice

Baker was at ringside to announce her choice for Swole’s opponent who she revealed was Reba, much to Reba’s shock.

Swole was ready to kill as she immediately began taking the fight to Reba. However, Reba managed to get some offence in and even went for a Bret’s rope moonsault. Unfortunately, Big Swole dodged the moonsault and followed up with Dirty Dancing for the victory as she fiercely stared down Britt Baker.

Anyone who remembers Reba as Rebel from TNA knows she can actually wrestle, so she did a stellar job of acting like a fish out of water here. Fun stuff, but I can’t wait to see Baker get back in the ring herself.

AEW World Championship match: Jon Moxley (c) vs Darby Allin

This match had a well-told undercurrent story set up by Moxley earlier in the night. Moxley saw the no-fear attitude he had in his younger years in Allin and didn’t want to hurt him. He pleaded he stay down when it came to it, even though he didn’t expect Allin to listen.

This came across in the match as Moxley seemed like a big brother trying to assert his dominance over his boisterous younger brother. Moxley took control early and attempts to fight back from Allin only resulted in him being pinged off the corner post from the entrance ramp.

After the break, Moxley was still in control and he clearly just wanted to end the match there before Allin could hurt himself anymore demanding that he taps when he tells him to. Allin responded by driving Moxley out to the outside of the ring with a tackle and following up with a lightning-fast suicide dive.

Moxley countered a springboard Coffin Drop and looked to lay in the Paradigm Shift but Allin countered into a Code Red for a very close two-count. After an avalanche German suplex from Moxley, Wardlow came to the ring and distracted the referee allowing MJF to shockingly blindside Moxley with his own title belt and busted him open.

Allin took advantage of this and hit a Coffin Drop but Moxley kicked out at the last millisecond. Allin kept up the fight and went for another Coffin Drop but was caught into a sleeper hold. Moxley begged for him to tap but Allin refused, clawing at Moxley’s eyes. Moxley hit a Gotch-style piledriver but Allin kicked out at two. A frustrated Moxley finally put Allin away with a Paradigm Shift after taking a moment to say a prayer. Moxley held his opponent as the show went off the air.

A great story here and a great match marred slightly by the MJF interference. Moxley kicking out of the Coffin Drop after a belt shot kind of makes the Coffin Drop look weak and MJF wanted to fight Allin instead does no favours for Allin’s stock.

Despite this, the main event was a fantastic watch and capped off an excellent episode of Dynamite with a few questionable booking decisions that were a dent on an otherwise great two hours of wrestling.

All pictures and videos provided by AEW

By M P Wilson

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