Here we are, the final edition of DYNAMITE before FULL GEAR 2020 takes over the pay-per-view airwaves on Saturday night, November 7th. (Click Here) for more information on how to order the event, and strap in for the final TNT broadcast before we hit PPV!
One week ago, the finals of the World Title Eliminator Tournament were set when Adam Page and Kenny Omega defeated Wardlow and Penta El Zero Miedo respectively. TNT Champion Cody continued his second reign when he bested Orange Cassidy in a Lumberjack Match, in no small part to both The Dark Order and Arn Anderson, and officially set the TNT Title match for this Saturday with Darby Allin. Eddie Kingston prepared for his fight with a victory over Matt Sydal, and NWA World Women’s Champion Serena Deeb retained her title against a very game Leyla Hirsch while Hikaru Shida made her AEW Women’s World Title defense for FULL GEAR 2020 official by accepting the challenge of Vicki Guerrero and former champion Nyla Rose.
This week is packed as well with a Nightmare Family/Dark Order Six Man Tag, Eddie Kingston and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley meeting face-to-face in the ring, a grudge match with Scorpio Sky and Shawn Spears, Miro’s first singles match in AEW, PAC breaking nearly eight months of silence, The Inner Circle standing up to MJF, and more! Plus “The DemoGod” Chris Jericho slides into the commentary booth to offer up his wisdom on the night’s events!
It’s going down starting at 8pm EST/7pm CST and it is happening LIVE on TNT, or airing on AEWPlus.com for our International audience!
FACE-TO-FACE…
On Saturday night, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will step into the ring against “The Mad King” Eddie Kingston to make his ninth defense of the title under the auspices of I QUIT rules. It will mark Kingston’s second stab at Mox during this title reign, but it will not be the second time these two have thrown hands.
And that is what makes this Wednesday night’s face-to-face between champion and challenger so intriguing; the last time they occupied the same space on October 14th, it was Kingston who stood tall after subduing Mox with the champ’s own Bulldog Choke. Yes Kingston and his family took advantage of Moxley after his championship war with Lance Archer, but it doesn’t erase the fact it was Kingston who was standing at the close of DYNAMITE, and has been in front of the people as much as possible to remind fans that Moxley was not.
Well this week, three days before their PPV collision, the World Champion will be there live and in-person, and in the ring with Eddie Kingston. Will this erupt into violence on TNT, or are these two warriors able to restrain themselves for Saturday night when the stakes are at their highest?
SIX MAN TAG…
TNT Champion Cody & The Gunn Club (Billy & Austin Gunn) vs. The Dark Order (Colt Cabana, John “4” Silver, & Ten)
Last week, during a chaotic TNT Title Lumberjack Match, Cody was able to retain his championship over Orange Cassidy in part due to the involvement of both The Dark Order’s John Silver and Nightmare Family coach Arn Anderson. Cody, while oblivious to the actions of those two men, was not so to the opening it created that allowed him to secure the victory.
Immediately after that final bell tolled, absolute chaos erupted as the Lumberjacks spilled into the ring to slug it out with one another while Cody and Arn observed from the stage. The final two men standing in the ring when the proverbial dust cleared, after dropping Dark Order’s Ten, would be Billy and Austin, The Gunn Club.
So the match was quickly signed pitting the TNT Champion and his two surprise allies against three men representing Mr. Brodie Lee’s Dark Order: Colt Cabana, John Silver, and Ten. In a strange way, it’s actually a fairly balanced contest in that both sides of the coin have never before united inside the ring. Cody is quite familiar with The Dark Order and the threat they represent in numbers, while The Gunn Club has had limited interaction with the cult-like unit, but it is the first time these three men have tackled the problem together.
So too is it the first time these three members of The Dark Order, if Colt indeed considers himself one, have represented Mr. Brodie Lee’s followers inside the ring. Colt has teamed with Silver, and Silver with Ten, but Colt has never shared the ring with the man once known as Preston Vance. The edition of AEW DARK that drops this Tuesday night will mark the first time that occurs actually.
It is a very interesting scenario that is as unpredictable once the bell rings as it was unexpected getting here in the first place. It also marks the highest profile bout of young Austin Gunn’s career, his first time competing on DYNAMITE, and only his second time outside a traditional tag team match. His one other multi-man situation: a losing effort against The Dark Order contingent of Silver, Alex Reynolds, Stu Grayson, and Evil Uno.
It is a hell of a situation for the TNT Champion to find himself in just a few days before having to defend the title against Darby Allin at FULL GEAR 2020, and somewhere out there, the terrifyingly dead eyes of Mr. Brodie Lee are guaranteed to be watching this fight.
GRUDGE MATCH…
Scorpio Sky vs. Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard)
For weeks now Shawn Spears has been poking the bear where it comes to Scorpio Sky. Whether it’s just lingering as SCU makes their way to the ring, the SATURDAY NIGHT DYNAMITE incident that included Matt Sydal, or the victory over and subsequent assault on Christopher Daniels, Spears has made a point to antagonize Sky at every opportunity. He even vandalized Scorpio’s locker room!
As Excalibur points out in the clip embedded above, Spears somehow feels Sky has stolen his spotlight and does not deserve the spotlight that Scorpio has in fact earned through hard work, wins, and by jumping at opportunities. Sky has forty matches under his belt in AEW competiton, he became the World Tag Team Champion by initially stepping up to a chance presented via Christopher Daniels injury, and he was the first man to pin Chris Jericho in AEW, earning a World Title match as a result. Sky amassed an impressive record in singles competition on DARK prior to answering the TNT Title Open Challenge by Cody on August 12th, and has continued to prove a dominant force in the singles ranks even after that loss.
None of that is pointed out to minimize the likewise impressive record Shawn Spears has racked up over his twenty-five matches in singles competition, rather to illustrate that Sky is far from the spotlight thief Spears has attempted to paint him as lately. Spears would likely claim he has not been given the same opportunities as Sky, been denied top five rankings, and is generally shunned when it comes to any title picture.
Sky would possibly say that Spears simply has not jumped at the chances the way he has, such as with the TNT Title Open Challenge that Cody ran with for the duration of his initial 82 day title reign; plenty of opportunity for Shawn to answer the call instead of waiting for the title shot to be bequeathed him. Sky has answered every call that has come his way, even made some of the calls himself; Spears on the other hand, well he’s checking the name and number on the ID before deciding to answer the call.
Wednesday night though, Spears better be prepared to answer on the first ring, otherwise he is going to get his bell rung by the sickest TKO in the game today courtesy of Scorpio Sky.
GATEKEEPERS…
The Inner Circle (Ortiz & Sammy Guevara) vs. MJF & Wardlow
As MJF has continued to make his hard push for membership in The Inner Circle, it has becoming abundantly clear that not all members of Chris Jericho’s unit are on the same page for that particular item. That being said, Max has also made it crystal that he doesn’t genuinely care about any other opinion outside of “The DemoGod”. So it was of little surprise, after Jericho declared he and MJF would go head-to-head at FULL GEAR 2020 over Max’s membership, that Ortiz interjected himself into the moment to assert his thoughts.
What was a bit of a surprise though was Ortiz taking his objections one step further and challenging Max to grab Wardlow and meet he and Sammy Guevara in the ring this week on DYNAMITE. It will mark the first time Sammy and Ortiz will unite in a traditional tag team match, having competed in several unsuccessful multi-man bouts in the last year with The Inner Circle, and just the second time their opposition has ever teamed up in a duos bout. That one, by the by, did not swing in the favor of MJF and Wardlow.
Still, this contest is one of three men with something to prove, and Wardlow along for the ride whether he likes it or not. After all, as we definitively learned several weeks ago, “The War Dog” is contracted to Max rather than All Elite Wrestling and as such is rather indentured to Mister So-Called Salt Of The Earth.
The Inner Circle duo aims to prove MJF does not belong with the group on any level involvement, be it at the most superficial or deep within the heart of the group. Maxwell needs the win on DYNAMITE heading into this Jericho fight at the pay-per-view to prove some of what he can bring to the table for The I.C., aside from another perpetually running mouth to go along with the former AEW World Champion’s.
GAME OVER…
Miro (w/ Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford) vs. Trent? (w/ Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy)
Since being introduced to the AEW faithful as The Best Man for the impending Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford nuptials, Miro has been an intimidating presence inside that ring. In his pair of appearances in tag team action, Miro has been as powerful and dominant inside the ring as anyone else in All Elite Wrestling. He has also proven quite protective of the bride and groom to be, as evidenced by what has transpired since Trent accidentally decimated Sabian’s gaming system at ringside.
First they beat up The Best Friends after their failed bid at FTR’s World Tag Team Titles, then the moment in the locker rooms embedded above, and just this past Monday night, the following interview conducted by Excalibur between Trent and Miro via video conference in hopes of some civil discourse between the two combatants:
Clearly civility did not rule this day as it broke down into angry ranting from Miro, flippant words (and fingers) from Trent, and even some call backs to their shared history from years ago. It is quite evident that one-half of The Best Friends is coming into Wednesday night looking for a fight, and that Miro, in his first singles match since January, is raring for a battle himself. It’s a powder keg waiting to explode, and it will go boom on DYNAMITE!
THE BASTARD SPEAKS…
March 11th, Salt Lake City, DYNAMITE; that was the final time fans witnessed PAC compete inside the AEW ring. That night he, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix decimated the trio of Joey Janela and Private Party in six-man action. Collectively known as The Death Triangle, these three warriors from the United Kingdom and Mexico were poised to unleash their own brand of hell on the roster of All Elite Wrestling. Their collective aggressive natures, their high-flying abilities, their hard-hitting strikes, combined it made for one of the scariest units on the AEW roster, and nearly eight months ago PAC, Penta, and Fenix put them all on notice.
Then March 12th came and the entire world was forced to face the realities that came with the ever-growing COVID pandemic. Travel restrictions and bans affected the ability of numerous roster members to come into the United States for events, affected how AEW was able to put on its live events, and certainly affected the plans many wrestlers had for their futures.
Key among that list would be “The Bastard” PAC and whatever plans he may have had for El Triangulo De La Muerte going forward. While those machinations may have ground to a halt, the lives of PAC’s allies in that nascent group have moved forward. As PAC remained silent from the UK, the Lucha Brothers would eventually find themselves bonding with The Butcher and The Blade, and then as that relationship started to strain, “The Mad King” Eddie Kingston stepped up to serve as the glue to hold the rather eccentric family together.
One must imagine PAC has kept himself abreast of the happenings during this self-imposed extended silence. Despite any restrictions on his ability to travel, the ability to send a video across the pond to express his thoughts is quite readily available, and yet “The Bastard” has chosen this hush that has persisted for months on end. The scariest part of all of this, given the nature of the beast in question, is that the silence is self-chosen and it leaves all questioning what could possibly lead the man to break the still waters?
It is poised to be one uproarious night this Wednesday when DYNAMITE takes over the TNT airwaves at 8pm EST/7pm CST for the final episode before Saturday’s FULL GEAR 2020 pay-per-view extravaganza! The week of All Elite action kicks off Tuesday with another jam-packed AEW DARK, exclusively available on our YouTube channel (Click Here), then continues on with DYNAMITE, the Pre- and Post-Game events, FULL GEAR 2020 and THE BUY-IN, and into next week for all the fallout from Saturday night!
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