It was all about the brutal main event in this week’s Dynamite, as Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club went head-to-head in the second Blood & Guts match ever. Elsewhere, we saw Jade Cargill defend her TBS Championship against Leila Grey, Danhausen and FTR faced Max Caster and The Gunn Club, and Christian Cage accompanied a much darker version of Luchasaurus to the ring to battle Serpentico. First up, Orange Cassidy and Ethan Page squared up.
Quick Results
Orange Cassidy defeated Ethan Page via pinfall. ***
Luchasaurus defeated Serpentico via submission. *
Danhausen and FTR defeated Max Caster and The Gunn Club via pinfall. ***
Jade Cargill defeated Leila Grey via pinfall. **
Blackpool Combat Club defeated the Jericho Appreciation Society via submission. ****
The Matches
Orange Cassidy W/ Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) vs Ethan Page W/ Dan Lambert
When the match finally got underway, Cassidy did his usual ‘hands in pockets’ schtick, ending his flurry with a Tope Suicida and a top turnbuckle diving crossbody for a one-count. Page quickly turned the tables and slowed things down with a hanging vertical suplex, and despite Cassidy attempting a rollup, Page booted him to the outside, allowing Lambert to interfere. After the break, Cassidy got caught with a brainbuster despite attempting a comeback. All Ego went for his finisher as Cassidy was able to get his hands in his pockets and get to the top turnbuckle, only for Lambert to interfere and Page to land a powerslam for a two-count. Cassidy countered Page’s offence with a Stundog Millionaire and followed with a spinning DDT for a near victory as Lambert tried to interfere again. Cassidy took a drink from Lambert’s orange juice, smashed Page with an Orange Punch, and then spat the juice in Lambert’s face. He followed up with another Orange Punch and powerslam to pin Page.
Luchasaurus W/ Christian Cage vs Serpentico
Luchasaurus destroyed Serpentico with a vicious slam and a variation of the Snare Trap to pick up the win. We’ve just witnessed one hell of a heel turn by Luchasaurus. After the match, he chokeslammed Serpentico on the mat outside.
Max Caster & The Gunn Club (Austin & Colten Gunn) W/ Anthony Bowen & Billy Gunn vs Danhausen & FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
Before the match, Danhausen said he thought he’d found some pretty good wrestlers to team up with him. FTR walked out, so I’d say he did pretty well finding some partners. FTR beat down Austin Gunn. Danhausen tagged in and landed a hurricanrana on Colten Gunn, but after a couple of hip tosses, he got levelled by a clothesline. After the break, Caster tried to keep Danhausen isolated and got caught with a fishermen’s suplex. Austin tagged in and managed to keep Danhausen from tagging until he jumped across the ring and tagged in Harwood. FTR hit three stereo German suplexes. Harwood carried on and hit a further three German suplexes on Austin. Danhausen tagged in and hit a big boot on Austin. He went for his finisher as Billy distracted the referee. Bowens got up out of the wheelchair but accidentally hit Austin with the crutch. Harwood pulled Bowens outside as Danhausen picked up the pin on the knocked-out Austin. After the match, The Acclaimed and The Gunn Club squared up to each other, but Billy pushed his sons away and seemed to side with Caster and Bowens. I’m not too sure what just happened, but it’s an interesting development between this makeshift faction.
TBS Championship Match: Jade Cargill (C) W/ Stokely Hathaway & Kiera Hogan vs Leila Grey
Cargill started off strong by slamming Grey to the mat and following up with a fallaway slam. The champ started to talk to the crowd, allowing Grey to attempt a roll-up. Despite the brief comeback, Cargill planted Grey with Jaded to retain. After the match, Cargill said she was sick of everyone bitching and moaning. Hathaway said Statlander and Athena weren’t overlooked, they were just lazy. Both women ran out and went after Cargill until Grey interfered, but Cargill didn’t seem to want her in the Baddies.
Blood & Guts Match: Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Danny Garcia, & Jake Hager) W/ Tay Conti vs Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz, & Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, & Claudio Castagnoli)
Firstly, what in the hell are JAS wearing? They look like the world’s worst boy band. Secondly, how good does Mox look holding that AEW World Championship once again? Guevara and Claudio were the first two men to step into the two rings surrounded by the massive cage. Claudio whipped Guevara into the turnbuckle and hit three running European uppercuts in quick succession. He continued to decimate Guevara until the Spanish God jumped from top rope to top rope in an effort to escape. Guevara countered an elevated uppercut with a cutter and went to kiss Conti through the cage. As Claudio grabbed Guevara for the spin, Garcia entered the match and attacked him. After the break, Yuta was in the ring and took out Sammy, then hit three multiple Germans on Garcia, followed by three on Guevara, with the last one initiated by an uppercut from Claudio. BCC were in control as Hager entered the match and dropped Yuta. Hager and Claudio squared up to each other and traded blows as the fans chanted “we the people.” Yuta took out Hager with a top rope dropkick, but JAS were able to take control. Mox entered the match and launched a chair at Hager’s head before wiping out Guevara and Garcia. Claudio hit Hager with a bulldog on a chair and hit Guevara with a drop-toe hold onto a chair. Mox busted Garcia’s head open as Yuta and Mox teamed up on Hager. Claudio gorilla pressed Guevara into a cutter by Mox, with Yuta following up with a diving headbutt. BCC were in perfect harmony as they all delivered hammer and anvil bows.
Parker was next in, who tried his best to run away from the BCC. Claudio caught him and delivered a gutwrench suplex. Yuta followed with a Michinoku Driver, as they all took turns beating the hell out of him. JAS were able to get back into it, with Hager hitting Claudio’s leg with a chair, followed by a shot to the back. Ortiz entered and wiped out most of the JAS with clotheslines. Following a commercial break, Matt Menard was using the steel chair to hit Mox and Claudio. It was shown during the break that Mox had dropped Parker with a piledriver onto some broken glass. Mox had been busted open (when was the last time he didn’t bleed?) as Menard landed various strikes and elbows. Santana headed into the ring with a chair and a barbed wire bat. Santana wiped out Menard with a Saito suplex but landed funny after a failed Uranage. Mox jammed a fork into Menard’s head, followed by a bunch of kebab skewers. Jericho finally entered the match with a baseball bat but ended up getting caught with a chair by Ortiz until Guevara floored him with a flying cutter. Claudio was able to take out Garcia and Hager until Jericho connected with a Codebreaker on the big man. Yes, Kingston arrived and the bell finally rang. He beat the hell out of Hager and Menard with a kendo stick, then went straight for Jericho. He was just about to pour rubbing alcohol on Jericho as Hager made the save. Ortiz unleashed chair shots on all members of JAS as Jericho was able to get the alcohol. Garcia got taken out with a Doomsday Device by Mox and Yuta as Hager was put through a table by Kingston and Ortiz.
Kingston scraped Garcia’s head against the cage as Mox and Yuta poured thumb tacks all over the ring. Claudio pulled the canvas off one of the rings to expose the board as Mox dropped Menard onto the thumb tacks. We got another break as pretty much everyone was covered in blood and Parker was hanging from the frame. As the final part of the show started, Jericho dragged Mox through the tacks and locked him in the Walls of Jericho, but Kingston picked up a handful of tacks and launched them at The Wizard. Kingston and Jericho traded blows until Jericho grabbed a fire extinguisher and fired it at him. Conti stole the key to the cage from the ref and went to open the door when Ruby Soho ran out and attacked her. Jericho climbed to the top of the cage as Kingston followed him. Kingston bit his ear and landed a back fist as Guevara climbed up and hit Kingston from behind. The Mad Dog was able to throw Guevara off the top of the cage onto the ring announcer table. Jericho locked in Walls of Jericho, but Claudio climbed up and connected with a running boot. Menard headed to the top of the cage as well, as Claudio spun Jericho around in circles. Kingston locked in the stretch plum on Jericho as Claudio reversed Menard’s powerbomb attempt into a Sharpshooter to make Menard tap out. It was a pretty decent match and went down exactly as I imagined. A lot of busted heads and violence, but there was still a lot of great action to make an otherwise weak Dynamite much better.
The Promos
Tony Schiavone called out Christian Cage to the ramp who said upper management had asked him to apologise for his comments last week regarding Jungle Boy’s father. Cage then said he was sorry his entire family wasn’t dead. He said he did request a match this week, but it wasn’t for him. Suddenly, Luchasaurus came out to some creepy new music as Cage accompanied him to the ring for his match with Serpentico.
Schiavone was standing with Scorpio Sky and Wardlow. Sky said the last time they met, he pinned Wardlow fair and square, until Schiavone pointed out Sky had some assistance. Wardlow said he could bring every member of the American Top Team to the ring and he’d still beat his ass. Sky challenged him to a street fight next week.
.@realwardlow & Champion @scorpiosky both get what they want – A street fight for the TNT Championship next week!
Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/IWE2j061my
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 30, 2022
Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt cut a promo where they challenged Samoa Joe to a match at the next Ring of Honor PPV, Death Before Dishonor. Does anyone still care about this slow-burning feud?
The challenge has been issued: Current ROH World Television Champion @SamoaJoe against the longest-reigning former Champion @TheLethalJay at #DeathBeforeDishonor July 23rd! Will Joe accept?
Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/YfKmwtqVOq
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 30, 2022
The Young Bucks were backstage and said they were still unhappy because they didn’t seem to have any friends left apart from the belts. They said that the Forbidden Door was still left open a bit and that Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto wanted a piece. They made the match for Rampage on Friday.
An update from our #AEW World Tag Team Champs INCLUDING the #ForbiddenDoor still cracked open "a little bit". @YoungBucks take on @YOSHIHASHICHAOS & @510njpw this FRIDAY on #AEWRampage at 10/9c on TNT!
Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/6tLrJSRGEG
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 30, 2022
Match of the Night: Blood & Guts
Best in Show: Claudio Castagnoli
Overall Rating: ***½
All images and videos courtesy of AEW