The final Saturday Night Dynamite is upon us, with the World Championship Eliminator Tournament kicking off in earnest. So, let’s go through this week’s episode. But, as always, let’s take a look back at the previous week’s worth of action.
Previously on All Elite Wrestling…
10/16/21 Dynamite results (Episode 107)
- Malakai Black def. Dante Martin via pinfall (9:38) after hitting the spinning kick to the head of Dante.
- The Inner Circle and American Top Team exchanged hostilities with Dan Lambert specifying terms he has regarding a challenge to Sammy Guevara’s TNT Championship.
- FTR def. The Lucha Bros. via pinfall (8:12) to win the AAA Tag Team Championships. Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler were masked under the guise of “Las Super Ranas” until they were unmasked by Penta & Fenix.
- Jon Moxley def. Wheeler YUTA via pinfall (0:47) in an incredibly quick squash that saw Mox easily beat Wheeler with the Paradigm Shift.
- The Elite’s SuperKliq def. The Dark Order via pinfall (10:50) after Adam Cole lowered the Boom on Alex Reynolds for the win. Post-match, Jungle Boy confronted the SuperKliq and ended up beating up Brandon Cutler to send a message to them.
- Arn Anderson had trainees of the Nightmare Factory prepare Cody Rhodes for the third match against Malakai Black.
- MJF tried to have a “match” with the still-injured Darby Allin, so he could win via forfeit. However, Sting appeared and confronted Max. Wardlow was thrown into a baseball bat strike by Sting as MJF ran off.
- Penelope Ford def. Kiera Hogan via submission (7:42) with the Muta Lock. After the match, Ruby Soho attacked Penelope in a measure of revenge for getting knocked out with brass knucks.
- In a heartfelt promo, “Hangman” Adam Page defined what “Cowboy Shit” meant to him and how it drives him to get back up even when he’s knocked down. He vowed to give it his all against Kenny Omega for the AEW World Title at Full Gear.
- Bryan Danielson def. Bobby Fish via submission (12:28) with the heel hook.
10/22/21 Rampage results (Episode 11)
- Orange Cassidy def. Powerhouse Hobbs via pinfall (8:12) to advance in the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament with the Mouse Trap pinning combination.
- FTR attacked Penta El Zero M & Alex Abrahantes during an interview segment. PAC ran them off.
- Dr. Britt Baker DMD def. Anna Jay via submission (6:46), using the Lockjaw hold to get the win.
- PAC def. Andrade El Idolo via pinfall (16:20) with a rollup pin in an excellent TV main event. Post-match, Malakai Black attacked PAC. Arn Anderson appeared and mimicked shooting his Glock, with Cody soon appearing to fight off both Andrade and Black.
It’s Saturday Night. You Know What That Means.
With our three esteemed broadcasters of the evening (Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, & Jim Ross), it’s the final Saturday Night Dynamite, highlighted by the start
Match 1: Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes (AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament Match)
The Story So Far
This is Danielson and Rhodes’ first interaction in AEW as part of the World Title Eliminator Tourney. Winner advances to face the winner of Eddie Kingston vs. Lance Archer in the second round.
The Match
Both circling to start the match before they exchange holds. Back to tie ups as Danielson and Rhodes continue to stalemate in terms of offense. Danielson has Rhodes down in a grapevine submission hold. He turns that into a surfboard stretch that’s broken up as Rhodes holds the ropes. Dustin is in the corner and tells Danielson to “stay back” as he recovers. Bryan works over Rhodes for a bit before he eats a kneeling uppercut from him. Rhodes to the outside and Danielson flies through the middle rope for a suicide dive that he seems to have taken the brunt of.
Dustin on the apron and a flipping senton on Danielson knocks the American Dragon off his feet. Quick pinfall attempt goes nowhere. Dropkick by Bryan stops Rhodes’ momentum before it can continue. Dustin counters a Danielson back suplex into a German suplex of his own. The two men exchange chops before Danielson hits a butterfly suplex on Rhodes… 1.. 2.. Kickout! Danielson doesn’t waste time and locks in a cross armbreaker on Rhodes, stomping away on the exposed elbow of The Natural.
The camera briefly shows a shot of free agent wrestler Tony Nese taking in the action of this match. Danielson’s attempt at a top rope move is intercepted by Rhodes, who gets the superplex on the American Dragon. It takes time for the two to recover before they exchange blows. Danielson wins the standoff and does the backflip off the turnbuckle after an Irish whip is reversed. Dustin catches him with repeated scoop powerslams. Inverted DDT by Dustin, but Bryan manages to kick out at two! Dustin has Danielson trapped in the corner as he hits repeated punches on him. He flips off Bryan before the last punch. Danielson reverses the bulldog attempt and unleashes consecutive dropkicks on Rhodes.
Danielson tries his hardest to get the LeBell Lock, but Rhodes manages to use whatever strength he has left to escape it by way of a rope break. Danielson with the kicks, but Rhodes is fired up and withstands the heat to mount a small comeback that’s snuffed out with a kick to the head. Danielson grabs Rhodes’ arms and stomps away on his head. Bryan in the corner, perhaps looking for the Running Knee, but Rhodes counters with a clothesline! Dustin has Danielson trapped for the piledriver. 1… 2… NO!
Series of kicks by Danielson, then the running guillotine on Rhodes. A bit of a struggle, but Dustin eventually falls to his knees as Danielson continues to apply pressure. Rhodes is unable to fight out of it and the referee makes the call to end this match.
Bryan Danielson def. Dustin Rhodes via Referee Stoppage
(Danielson advances to the Eliminator Semi Finals)
—
The Elite Speak
AEW World Champ Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, and the Young Bucks are here to speak on the big match on this Wednesday’s Dynamite. Omega talks trash about how “Hangman” Adam Page is a man who still has insecurities he’s afraid of. He promises if the fans knew Page the way he knew him, they’d be chanting “Coward Shit” to him.
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FTR Calls Their Shot
Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler issue a challenge to The Lucha Brothers for an AEW Tag Title shot at Full Gear, while Penta El Zero M & Alex Abrahantes say that revenge will be coming against FTR for their transgressions against them. Conspicuous by his absence is Rey Fenix, who’s nursing injuries sustained from FTR attacks.
—
An Update on Darby Allin
Tony Schiavone is in the ring to introduce Sting as only he can for an update on Darby’s condition after the Pinnacle’s brutal assault a couple of weeks ago. However, before Stinger can get in a single word, the music of one Maxwell Jacob Friedman interrupts the proceedings.
MJF says that he simply wants to have a gentleman’s chat with Sting. He points out that we’ll never see Darby ever again and that it’s Sting’s fault for that happening. Max calls Sting a “bad friend” for being unreliable to his friends, like a certain individual by the name of Lex Luger. Now with both in the ring, Sting drops MJF with a punch for daring to mock Lex Luger’s name as The Pinnacle’s Shawn Spears and Wardlow enter to help their leader out.
Sting, of course, tries valiantly to fight The Pinnacle off, but the three-on-one advantage is too much for him to handle. Spears strikes Sting with a chair that takes down the Icon just like that. MJF eventually sets up Spears’ chair and sits right next to the near-unconscious Stinger. He angrily asks Darby if he’s been broken mentally yet, before stating that the face-painted wrestler will always be second to the past, present, and future of pro wrestling.
The Pinnacle all make their leave, but as they notice Sting getting back up, MJF re-enters the ring and punches him out with a Dynamite Diamond Ring-enhanced punch to the noggin.
—
The DMD’s Next Challenger
In a backstage segment, AEW Women’s World Champion Dr. Britt Baker DMD speaks on her Full Gear challenger, Tay Conti. Baker says that she’ll beat Conti’s ass on November 13th.
—
Match 2: Ruby Soho vs. Penelope Ford (TBS Championship Tournament Rd. 1 Match)
The Story So Far
In recent weeks, Ruby has had her issues with Penelope Ford and her ally, The Bunny. On the previous week’s Rampage, Ford got the drop on Ruby by laying her out with a brass knuckles punch. The enigmatic Soho responded a night after on Dynamite by getting a measure of retribution on Ford with an attack following a match against Kiera Hogan. Now, the two look to settle their score in this match to decide who advances in the tournament to decide the first-ever TBS Champion.
The Match
As the bell sounds for this match, Ford does not waste time in going after Ruby right away with everything she’s got. Ruby manages to fight back a bit, but she’s sent to the corner by Ford, who continues with the attack. Penelope misses with the boot, which allows Ruby to lift her out of the corner and rain down the elbows on her. Dual kicks by Ruby on Penelope only gets a two-count. Both women are on the apron now as they trade blows. The Bunny skips her way down to the ring to cause a distraction on Ford’s behalf. The momentary distraction allows Ford to throw Ruby into the ringpost as we head to picture-in-picture.
Back from the break with Ruby mounting a comeback with a big back suplex on Ford. Offensive flurry by Ruby ends with an enzuiguri. 1… 2… NO! Penelope attempts a Matrix dodge, but Ruby deadlifts her from the bridge! Penelope is able to use the ropes as leverage to turn it into a cutter for the very close near fall!
Penelope’s half-crab attempt is reversed by Ruby, who gets a two-count in the pinfall attempt. Ford catches Ruby with a Scorpion Kick off an attempted top rope move. Gutbuster by Ford… 1… 2… Kickout! The Bunny attempts to slip in the brass knucks for Ford to use, but referee Rick Knox catches her in the act and kicks the knucks away. This gives Ruby the opening to roll up Ford for the all-important win to advance in the TBS Championship Tournament!
Ruby Soho def. Penelope Ford via pinfall (8:30)
(Soho advances in the TBS Championship Tournament)
Post-Match
The Bunny and Penelope look like they have the numbers advantage on Ruby, who’s more than willing to fight both of them. However, Red Velvet steps into the ring to even the odds as Bunny and Penelope decide to just leave.
—
My Accountibilibuddy
Outside the arena, MJF looks like he’s gonna continue mocking Darby Allin, but he’s interrupted by Wardlow, who’s more than a bit upset about Max literally throwing him into a
Sting assault last week. Max tries to make an excuse, claiming that he didn’t know what to do in the situation and that he still appreciates Wardlow. To that end, MJF decides to assign Shawn Spears as Wardlow’s new “Accountibilibuddy” as he makes his exit. “….hey,” says a confused Spears.
—
Match 3: Bobby Fish vs. Anthony Greene
The Story So Far
This is Fish’s third match in AEW after two losses against Bryan Danielson and Sammy Guevara and a single victory over Lee Johnson. This is Greene’s first appearance on Dynamite since a six-man tag match where he teamed with Bear Country in a losing effort against Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Darby Allin.
The Match
Fish starts off hot for a bit until Greene hits a diving crossbody for a one-count. From there, it’s mostly just Fish dominating with his array of offense until he puts away Greene with his patented Buzzsaw Kick to the head for the win.
Bobby Fish def. Anthony Greene via pinfall (1:54)
Post-Match
Fish isn’t content with the victory and decides to continue the brutality on Greene with a beatdown! He pummels Greene with elbows and strikes before applying a chokehold on him. CM Punk runs in from the stage and chases Fish off, beckoning him to come fight.
—
Lio & Dante’s First Match
Backstage, Schiavone interviews Lio Rush and Dante Martin. Lio says that he’s here to mentor Dante to be better and that being in this team will help him reach heights higher than Matt Sydal ever could. Dante takes exception to Lio’s words about Matt, but Lio just says he’s asked Tony Khan to make the match between their new team and the Sydal brothers.
—
Match 4: Eddie Kingston vs. Lance Archer (AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament Match)
The Story So Far
The animosity between Eddie Kingston and Lance Archer goes well beyond this match and the Lights Out Tag Team match that main evented Rampage Grand Slam last month. The two were in a feud late last year when Kingston was still a heel and Archer playing an antihero face, but now, circumstances have changed.
The Match
Kingston isn’t waiting for his entrance at all as he just ambushes Archer during his entrance with this fight intensifying before the bell rings! With the brawl spilling into ringside, Archer grabs a guy from the crowd and just flings him at Kingston! He grabs the fallen audience member and tosses him from the apron and right into Kingston again! Lance grabs his opponent and brings him into the ring to officially start this match.
Lance has the advantage, continuing the assault on Kingston in the corner. Eddie manages to counter the Blackout into a Dragon Sleeper. Stretch Muffler hold is countered by Archer, who floors Eddie with a lethal lariat. Sliding baseball dropkick on Eddie sends us to the commercial break and picture-in-picture.
We return to Archer maintaining his advantage on Eddie with a nice scoop slam. Body slam off the top rope by Archer gets a near-fall. Archer snuffs out an Eddie comeback with a big boot in the corner.
Archer going for a moonsault, but he lands badly on his head and seems out of it. The camera once again cuts to Tony Nese reacting to the in-ring action. Both the referee and Doc Sampson are in the ring to check on Archer, who’s still in a bad way. After a moment or so, Lance decides that he wants to continue, and so we go on. However, in an abrupt finish, Eddie rolls up Archer for the pinfall.
Eddie Kingston def. Lance Archer via pinfall (7:31)
(Kingston advances to the Eliminator Semifinals)
—
More Fun With Men of The Year
Dan Lambert and Men of the Year are in the ring to say their piece on how much the Inner Circle sucks. Ethan Page says that the only celebrity that Chris Jericho is kissing any time soon is Jorge Masvidal’s knee. He proclaims that while Jericho is out on his Cruise, he should look to the future of pro wrestling: him and Scorpio Sky.
Sammy Guevara interrupts and insults Lambert’s mic skills, to which the American Top Team boss responds with an acceptance of Sammy’s challenge to a ten-man tag match… on one condition: that Sammy must face Ethan Page for the TNT Title this week in Boston. Plus… if Guevara loses, he must leave the Inner Circle forever.
In a counter-offer, Guevara says he accepts Lambert’s challenge, on the condition that if he beats Ethan, the Inner Circle get their choice of which three American Top Team members will join Ethan and Scorpio in the big ten-man tag match.
Scorpio says that there’s gonna be an ass-whipping tonight as he and Ethan confront Guevara on the ramp. Fortunately for the TNT Champion, backup comes in the form of Jake Hager and Santana & Ortiz, who help him chase off Men of the Year.
—
“I’ll Win This Whole Damn Thing”
In a pre-tape promo, Jon Moxley talks about the AEW World Title Eliminator tournament and how it’s unimportant to him compared to being there for his newly-born daughter. Mox says that he’s only got one message to everyone in the Eliminator: “I’ll get you before you get me.
—
Hangman & Dark Order’s Halloween Havoc
Backstage, “Hangman” Adam Page is with the Dark Order. He apologizes for leaving them in the lurch for months and that they were all right in what they were trying to do for him. Page then tells Dark Order that in the upcoming Halloween-themed tag team match, they’ll need to beat the Elite at their own game by wearing better costumes to counter Kenny Omega’s boys. Hangman leaves Dark Order to confer with themselves on what exactly their costumes will be for Wednesday’s big match. John Silver makes a suggestion of Bambi costumes for the group, much to their confusion.
—
Match 5: Jungle Boy vs. Brandon Cutler
The Story So Far
After the Elite decimated Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus last week in a heinous backstage assault, the young standout of the Jurassic Express has been out for revenge. Jungle Boy attempted to attack the SuperKliq last week after their win over the Dark Order, but he ended up taking out his frustrations on Brandon Cutler instead, making him tap out to the Snare Trap as Cutler’s Elite friends looked on.
The Match
Cutler’s brief moment of an advantage doesn’t last all that long as it becomes pretty much a standard Jungle Boy squash that ends with him making Cutler tap to the Snare Trap.
Jungle Boy def. Brandon Cutler via submission (1:02)
Post-Match
Jungle Boy grabs a mic and says that he’s got another match in him as he challenges any of the “Elite pieces of shit” to come fight him. When nobody answers the challenge, J.B. once again puts Cutler in the Snare Trap until Adam Cole shows up. Cole walks up to the ring and starts to fight with Jungle Boy, but he’s sent to the outside. The Young Bucks get the jump on J.B. with stereo superkicks and it’s the SuperKliq doing their damage on Jack Perry. The Bucks drag him to the ramp, whereupon they lay him out with a BTE Trigger. Adam Cole then lowers the Boom on Jungle Boy. To finish things off, the SuperKliq grab J.B. and toss him off the stage and onto a table!
—
God’s Forsaken Champion
We once again get remarks from Miro, where he says that he will be God’s Favorite Champion once again. In the meantime, Miro says that there will be blood on his hands, and that will be on “you” (i.e. the God he’s referring to).
—
Match 6: Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black, Part III
The Story So Far
This is the third match between Black and Cody. In the first match at the Dynamite Homecoming, Black decisively defeated Cody in short order. Black once again scored a win against the American Nightmare when the two faced off at Dynamite Grand Slam with the help of black mist to the face of Cody. These two losses have caused Cody to plummet into a downward spiral, with manager Arn Anderson attempting to motivate him to find that killer instinct to win.
The Match
Cody, not wasting time, runs to the ring to immediately lock horns with Black as the bell sounds. Both competitors are in a dead heat for the first few moments of this match with nobody getting a clear advantage.
Knee bar by Malakai is reversed when Cody turns into it and proceeds to stomp away on his face. Reverse chinlock is countered into a scoop powerslam by Cody for the one-count. With Black trapped in a spinning toe hold, Cody takes time to remove his weight belt to throw it into the crowd. Black manages to escape by raking at Cody’s eyes so he can find time to recover on the outside. Black pulls a steel chair from under the ring right as Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson are at ringside to confront him. Now Cody has the chair with the action spilling into picture-in-picture.
We return to live action following a Cross Rhodes by Cody to Black onto a table, which happened during commercials. Malakai has been busted open and he pushes Cody into the ringpost for maximum pain. Arn Anderson in the ring now while referee Paul Turner checks to make sure Black and Cody are okay.
Andrade El Idolo appears on the ramp and mimics Arn’s Glock gun gesture to him. Assistant Jose enters from the crowd and tries to ambush Arn, but he eats a spinebuster for his troubles. Malakai slides in and spits the black mist in Arn’s face! Meanwhile on the ramp, PAC appears and engages in a brawl with Andrade! All hell has broken loose!
Back inside the ring, Malakai connects with a ripcord elbow strike and the springboard moonsault. Cody responds in kind with Cross Rhodes. 1… 2… 2.9999999!!!!!! Cody’s in shock as his signature move can’t put Black away. Malakai on the apron and he kicks Cody down, giving him enough time to ascend to the top rope to hit a Double Stomp, followed by a bridging German suplex for an incredibly close two-count. He catches Cody by surprise with the Spinning Back Heel Kick, but the American Nightmare is able to brace himself against the bottom ropes to give himself time to recover.
Missed moonsault by Black to the outside allows Cody to capitalize with a suicide dive! Cody has Black back inside the ring, and he hits his patented Cody Cutter to take him down. Here it comes… Cross Rhodes! Not content with that, he puts Black in a very familiar position, hitting the Tiger Driver for the 1, 2, 3.
Cody Rhodes def. Malakai Black via pinfall (11:43)
—
This Wednesday on Dynamite
- Sammy Guevara vs. Ethan Page for the TNT Championship
- Dark Order vs. The Elite (costume tag team match)
- AEW World Title Eliminator Tourney: Jon Moxley vs. Preston “10” Vance
- TBS Championship Tourney: Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb
- CM Punk vs. Bobby Fish (Punk’s Dynamite debut)
This Friday on Rampage
- AEW World Title Eliminator Tourney (Rd. 2): Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston
- Matt & Mike Sydal vs. Lio Rush & Dante Martin
—
The Last Word
Unlike most weeks of Dynamite, there was a bit of a weird vibe to this week’s show.
I think some of the weird vibe may be in part to the certainly-unplanned sudden finish to Lance Archer vs. Eddie Kingston, brought on by Archer landing on his head during an attempted moonsault. While it’s unclear whether or not Archer was the planned winner of this Eliminator match, the rollup pinfall win for Kingston was a last-second call.
The good news is that reports out of Orlando say that Archer was able to walk out of his own power. Here’s hoping to a speedy recovery.
Cody getting the win over Malakai Black is a decision that some might take issue with, but that doesn’t take away from the match itself being a wild, memorable encounter. It was a hot encounter that had a little bit of everything and entertained fans to cap off the evening.
The Hangman/Dark Order segment was short, but most definitely sweet, as it addressed the issue that lingered when Page had to be written out due to paternity leave. Page’s exit stage left caused a rift between the Dark Order, and with that resolved, this allowed Hangman to easily make amends with them. The real question is whether or not that unity can translate to success against The Elite.
Bryan Danielson has only been in All Elite Wrestling for a month or so, but he’s brought the effort in the short time he’s been in. his Eliminator match versus Dustin Rhodes was the American Dragon at his best. Credit to Dustin for being able to keep up with Danielson to help make this match a hot opener.
Meanwhile, the saga of the Inner Circle vs. American Top Team continues to just be a personal lowlight for me, and the casual homophobic dissing in this week’s promo leaves a lot ot be desired. The fact that a lot of the two sides’ banter feels juvenile in all the wrong reasons has me left cold about it.
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Marc Quill is the editor of RingCrashers, GateCrashers’ home for all your All Elite Wrestling and indie wrestling needs. He’s also the web novelist behind Skye Emery: Bluebird, which you can read here. You can chat with him about wrestling, comics, and stuff in general on @MarcQuill on Twitter.
