It’s almost time for Full Gear, a big event that’s shaping up to be one of the biggest shows in All Elite Wrestling history, but before that, we’ve got a couple of more stops, including an exciting go-home edition of Dynamite that saw a quality night of wrestling action and angles to advance the big matches of Full Gear. So, what went down exactly? Let’s find out together, shall we?
—
Previously on All Elite Wrestling…
Dynamite results from 11/3/21 (Episode 109)
- Kenny Omega def. Alan Angels via pinfall (8:01) after two consecutive V-Triggers. After the match, Omega attempted to hit the One-Winged Angel on Angels onto a steel chair until “Hangman” Adam Page intervened.
- Malakai Black claimed that there would be someone else who would gunning for Cody Rhodes… someone particularly close to him.
- CM Punk talked about Jon Moxley’s real-life absence due to entering an inpatient alcohol treatment program and challenged Eddie Kingston to apologize to him on Rampage.
- An interview with the SuperKliq turned into a brawl as Jurassic Express and Christian Cage got revenge on Adam Cole and the Young Bucks. The brawl ended with Christian hitting the Con-Chair-To on a lifeless Cole.
- FTR def. Aerostar & Samuray Del Sol via a cheap pinfall (8:30) to retain their AAA Tag Team Championships.
- The Inner Circle named the American Top Team members they wanted to face at Full Gear: Junior Dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, and Dan Lambert.
- Jamie Hayter def. Anna Jay via pinfall (5:56) to advance in the TBS Championship Tournament after taking advantage of a distraction caused by Rebel (not Reba) and Dr. Britt Baker. After the match, the heels attempted to beat down Anna, but were stopped by Tay Conti and Thunder Rosa.
- MJF proclaimed that Darby Allin couldn’t beat him in a straight wrestling match, to which the face-painted skateboarder responded by saying that he’ll do just that. This would lead to a fight where Darby got the better of Maxwell.
- Andrade el Idolo def. Cody Rhodes via pinfall (10:33) with help from FTR, who snuck from under the ring to hit Cody with their AAA Tag Titles. A beatdown by FTR and Andrade was stopped when the Lucha Brothers made the save.
- Miro def. Orange Cassidy via submission (7:27) with the Game Over to advance to the World Title Eliminator Finals. Bryan Danielson, Miro’s opponent at Full Gear, confronted him following the match.
Rampage results from 11/5/21 (Episode 13)
- Bryan Danielson def. Anthony Bowens via submission (9:04) with the LeBell Lock in a match made by Tony Khan earlier in the day.
- CM Punk and Eddie Kingston engaged in a war of words where Eddie accused Punk of being a “narcissistic bitch” who judged him fifteen years ago, to which Punk responded by calling Eddie a “bum”. Words turned into fists as the two men fought with a match for Full Gear eventually signed.
- Red Velvet def. The Bunny via pinfall (3:34) to advance in the TBS Championship Tournament, where she will face Jade Cargill next.
- Adam Cole def. John Silver via pinfall (11:03) with his patented running knee to the face.
—
It’s Wednesday Night You Know What That Means.
Direct from the Indiana Farmers’ Coliseum in Indianapolis, IN (an arena that literally has Garfield the cat as its mascot), it’s the final AEW Dynamite before Full Gear this Saturday
—
Match 1: Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero
The Story So Far
This match, made last week on Rampage, pits The American Dragon against NJPW’s Rocky Romero of the CHAOS faction. Bryan’s set for the World Title Eliminator Finals on Saturday against Miro, and he’s got a tough test ahead of him tonight.
The Match
Danielson & Romero do the respectful handshake as the bell sounds and we get an exchange of holds to start. Danielson targets Rocky’s leg, but that gets turned into an armbar by Rocky. More back and forth action as Rocky eventually sends Danielson to the outside.
On the outside, Orange Cassidy confronts Danielson and puts his hands up in the air. Rocky takes advantage and hits a suicide dive to Danielson. In a moment of irony, Danielson traps Rocky in the Romero Special for a bit.
Rocky nails Bryan with a springboard tornado DDT, then trapping Dragon into the ropes. A well-placed missile dropkick sends Bryan to the outside. Rocky uses the steel steps as a launchpad to fly right into Danielson with a diving hurricanrana. Back in the ring, Rocky maintains the offensive attack with a modified sliced bread. 1… 2.. NO!
Danielson gets back on the attack with rolling elbows and the bridging German suplex, but that gets only a two. He places Rocky in the corner and goes to work on him. Planting him on the top turnbuckle, Bryan’s got something dangerous in mind. Avalanche back suplex? Nope, as Rocky turns that into a crossbody-esque manuever. 1… 2… not quite, but Rocky quickly applies the cross armbreaker right as Bryan kicks out!
The American Dragon is able to muster up some strength to deadlift Rocky and hit a powerbomb to escape the submission. Both men begin to trade strikes with one another as this match is going down the wire. Armbar attempt by Rocky is reversed into an ankle lock by Danielson instead. Rocky escapes that ankle lock and manages to get the armbar anyway, but Bryan turns that into a schoolboy pin for the close two.
Bryan reverses Rocky’s attempted shiranui and drags him to the ring to get him into position for the double clutch stomps! Bryan tries to turn that into a LeBell Lock, but Rocky manages to block taht. This forces Bryan to lock in a Tequila Sunrise instead. Romero submits almost instantly.
Bryan Danielson def. Rocky Romero via submission (10:51)
—
Inner Circle Town Hall
As the Inner Circle makes their entrance on the ramp, they’re jumped from behind by American Top Team and the Men of the Year. Junior Dos Santos gives Sammy Guevara a strong punch in the gut to send him down. Santana is thrown into the steps.
The ATT crew procure a table from under the ring and set it up. Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky prop Jericho up as Dan Lambert ascends the top rope. They perform a triple powerbomb on Jericho through the table! As Scorpio does his best JR impression, he boasts that this is a small taste of what’s coming to the Inner Circle on Saturday. Ethan Page then says that tonight, however, Dan Lambert will make Jericho tap out to his own submission hold. Dan locks Jericho in the Walls of Jericho as Ethan makes Jericho “tap” to the move. Lambert takes time to inform everyone that this is based on the Rocky Johnson version from 1975 Championship Wrestling from Florida. Is this what we’ll be seeing in the Minneapolis Street Fight?
—
Match 2: Trios Match – Dr. Britt Baker, Rebel (not Reba) & Jamie Hayter vs. Tay Conti, Anna Jay, & Thunder Rosa
The Story So Far
Dr. Britt defends her AEW Women’s Title against Tay Conti on Saturday, while Jamie Hayter defeated Conti’s best friend Anna Jay in the TBS Championship Tournament last week. An attempted 3-on-1 attack by Team DMD led to Conti and Thunder Rosa making the save to set up this match.
The Match
All six women just start off brawling with each other in the ring. Once things settle down, it’s Thunder Rosa and Dr. Britt to start us off officially. No clear advantage as Dr. Britt manages to escape Rosa’s wrath to tag in Rebel for the time being. Rebel manages to get a few strikes in on Rosa, but she just ends up on the wrong end of a dropkick, followed by a La Casadora facebreaker. Tag to Anna as she hits a suplex on Rebel. Irish whip is countered as Jamie Hayter pulls Anna out of the ring and gets a cheap shot in while Rebel runs interference. We go to commercials on that note.
As the action resumes live, Anna is able to hit Dr. Britt with a suplex and a blockbuster to create an opening. Tay Conti gets the hot tag for her team while Jamie Hayter enters the match for her team. The woman who will face Dr. Britt for the AEW Women’s Title on Saturday is running wild on Team DMD. Tay-KO on Hayter leads to a pinfall attempt that Britt breaks up. STO by Hayter on Conti, followed by the pin. Thunder Rosa stops the count as soon as she can. Things turning loose as Rebel and Conti are your legal competitors for the match. We get our finish when Rosa takes to the skies and hits a flying crossbody on Jamie Hayter at ringside, while Conti finishes off Rebel with the DDT for the 1, 2, 3.
Tay Conti, Anna Jay, & Thunder Rosa def. Dr. Britt Baker, Rebel (not Reba), & Jamie Hayter via pinfall (7:58)
—
Match 3: Jungle Boy vs. Anthony Bowens
The Story So Far
Weeks of antagonizing Tony Khan has led to some consequences for the Acclaimed. Last Friday, Khan booked Anthony Bowens in a match against Bryan Danielson, which Bowens lost soundly. Now tonight, Bowens takes on the red-hot Jungle Boy, hoping to slow his momentum.
The Match
In their pre-match rap, Anthony Bowens and Max Caster make fun of Jungle Boy’s stuttering, and stating that he’s so “progressive” he leaves his girlfriend to hang out with seven guys, referencing Anna Jay and the Dark Order.
Back and forth action to start off between J.B. and Bowens. Arm drag and dropkick by Jungle Boy turns the tide. Bowens regains momentum by grabbing a lock of J.B.’s hair and headbutting him. On the apron, Max Caster makes his presence known by grabbing at Jungle Boy’s leg, allowing Bowens to superkick him and land an overdrive to send us to commercial.
We return with Jungle Boy taking over as he goes after Bowens with everything he’s got. Massive dropkick and lariat by J.B. flattens Bowens. An offensive flurry by Bowens ends with a powerslam that gets a close two-count. Jungle Boy recovers and attempts to apply the Snare Trap on Bowens, but Max Caster provides a distraction. Suicide dive by J.B. silences Caster. As Jungle Boy gets on the apron, Bowens gets him by surprise and lands the draped reverse DDT for another near fall. Jungle Boy counters a Bowens move into the Snare Trap. Bowens tries in vain to crawl to reach Max Caster on the outside, but he has no choice but to tap.
Jungle Boy def. Anthony Bowens via submission (10:07)
Post-Match
Jungle Boy doesn’t even get a chance to celebrate as Bobby Fish runs in to attack him. Exploder suplex on the ropes by Fish leaves J.B. reeling. Christian Cage and Luchasaurus chase Fish from the ring, but it seems that the damage may be done.
—
An Uncontested Epoch?
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks are backstage where Cole introduces his old friend, Bobby Fish. The Bucks are not receptive to Fish, stating that there is no dispute that this is the era of the Elite. However, if Cole is cool with Fish, they’re cool with him. Cole proposes that Fish fights Jungle Boy this Friday on Rampage to soften him up for the SuperKliq on Saturday.
—
Match 4: Wardlow vs. Wheeler YUTA
The Story So Far
Not much of anything in the way of a story, just a way to keep Wardlow prominent as MJF is set to face Darby Allin on Saturday.
The Match
Wheeler starts off fast with the offensive flurry, but Wardlow soon takes control. Powerbomb by Wardlow on Wheeler. And then another one. He goes for yet another powerbomb, before doing a final one to leave Wheeler laying on the mat. The announcers mention that MJF and Shawn Spears aren’t here due to preparing for the Full Gear match against Darby Allin on Saturday. Wardlow props up Wheeler’s lifeless body on the top rope and puts him down with the rising kneelift for the easy victory.
Wardlow def. Wheeler YUTA via pinfall (2:14)
Post-Match
Isaiah Kassidy and The Blade attack Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy as they’re tending to Wheeler. “Big Money” Matt Hardy steps into the ring and attacks Orange with a chair. Putting Orange’s head in between the chair, Matt hits a Twist of Fate on the Freshly-Squeezed One
—
CM Punk & Eddie Kingston’s War Continues
Right away from the commercial break we go to the parking lot of the arena as CM Punk and Eddie Kingston are being separated by a litany of officials and wrestlers. These two men will be fighting Saturday at Full Gear, but it’s clear that Punk and Eddie aren’t going to wait until then!.
—
Match 5: Lio Rush & Dante Martin vs. Matt Sydal & Lee Moriarty
The Story So Far
There’s been a bit of an issue brewing with Lio Rush & Matt Sydal ever since the self-proclaimed LBO became Dante Martin’s mentor. Lio suggested that Dante could learn from him better than he ever could from Sydal.
The Match
Right off the gate we start with Lee and Dante kicking things off for their respective teams. Wild back and forth between the two young lions that ends in a stalemate. It’s off to Lio and Matt for the tags. Lio tries to escape Sydal, but Matt simply wants to “talk” to him. Lee gets in a shot on Lio as Sydal goes for a moonsault. Lio avoids impact while Sydal lands on his feet. Rush takes flight with a springboard Frankensteiner over the ropes. We go to a commercial with both teams in the ring and things beginning to break down.
Back from the break as Dante lands a successful sunset flip on Sydal for a convincing two-count, followed by the dropkick. With both Sydal and Dante down and out, they go to their corners and get the tags to their partners. Lee Moriarty leaps in like a house of fire and gets in his offensive flurry on Lio Rush. With moves including a cool inverted armbreaker stomp and a corkscrew uppercut, Moriarty seems to have things well in hand. Lee follows that up with an amazing modifed corkscrew ripcord facebuster. Lio soundly avoids a Matt Sydal attack and answers with the roundhouse kick, followed by an enzuiguri on Lee. Double springboard handspring elbow by Lio on Sydal and Moriarty keeps the two down.
Consecutive suicide dives by Lio on his two opponents, followed by a corkscrew variation of the Killswitch on Lee Moriarty for the very close near-fall. Dante tags into the match, looking to take to the top rope. Lio tries to go up top, but he’s intercepted by Matt Sydal. Moriarty jumps to the turnbuckle to throw Dante down, then hitting a nice running uppercut. 1… 2… NO! Moriarty and Sydal attempt to finish this match off, but Lio Rush barges in and hits the two with kicks for everyone, ending with a devastating hook kick to Moriarty. Lio tells Dante to take flight as the young upstart makes no mistake with the double-springboard moonsault for the pinfall win in this energetic match.
Lio Rush & Dante Martin def. Matt Sydal & Lee Moriarty via pinfall (10:27)
—
Miro’s Words To The Dragon
In a video package, Miro talks about how Bryan Danielson is nothing more but a body standing between him and his bride. He declares that Bryan will “have to say goodbye to his wife so that I can say hello to mine”.
—
Match 6: Dax Harwood vs. PAC
The Story So Far
As part of the continued war between Cody Rhodes versus Malakai Black and Andrade, PAC has found himself an unlikely ally of Cody’s. FTR’s involvement is part of a monetary agreement between Andrade & MJF after the Lucha Brothers were screwed out of the AAA Tag Team Championships some weeks back. This match tonight was set up on last week’s Rampage when Dax Harwood challenged PAC to a fight for tonight.
The Match
It’s stated no wrestlers can interfere, and that Tully Blanchard is allowed to be in Dax’s corner due to having a manager’s license.
PAC and Dax trade offense to start the match. Shoulder blocks by The Bastard on Dax is followed by the scoop slam. Dax fights back with an upkick to PAC and the two competitors exchange arm drags. The fans are electric at the action we’ve gotten so far.
Lariat by Dax flattens PAC. The Bastard recovers and hits a series of chops on Dax before referee Aubrey Edwards backs him away from the corner. Another exchange of forearms from these two competitors. German suplex off the ropes by PAC, followed by a lariat sends Dax to the outside. PAC senses the opportunity as he soars with a corkscrew diving splash on Dax, sending us to commercial.
Returning to live action, PAC and Dax are fighting on the top rope, with The Bastard eventually winning out and hitting a gigantic avalanche brainbuster on Dax! 1… 2… Harwood somehow kicks out! PAC ascends to the top rope, but Tully Blanchard stops him at the pass. Dropkick to the back of Dax by PAC. The Bastard has Dax reeling with a combo of kicks and uppercuts, but Tully wisely pulls Dax out of the way of a third strike, allowing for a brainbuster to be done. 1… 2… KICKOUT!
PAC superkicks Dax and ascends to the top, looking to hit a big move from the top. Dax meets him at the top… big back suplex from the top rope! We get some back-and-forth jockeying between the two, up until Dax crushes PAC with a stiff lariat. He hoists PAC up and gets the rebound powerbomb for the two-count. Frustrated, Dax tries to pepper PAC with uppercuts, but the last one is countered into a backslide that The Bastard eventually transitions into the Brutalizer! Dax has nowhere to go, and he’s got no choice but to tap out.
PAC def. Dax Harwood via submission (13:59)
Post-Match
PAC refuses to release Dax from the Brutalizer as Cash Wheeler runs in to break the submission hold. Tully gets involved and allows for Cash to stomp away on PAC as the lights shut off. As they come back on, Malakai Black & Andrade el Idolo are in the ring and they proceed to help FTR lay a massive beatdown on PAC. The Lucha Brothers, along with Cody Rhodes entering through the crowd, all converge in the ring and we’ve got a big brawl going down. The faces clear the ring of the heel alliance as they stand tall.
—
The Hangman/Omega Contract Signing
Ahead of Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page’s contract signing, we see footage of The Dark Order and The Elite leaving the arena, per Tony Khan’s orders to prevent chaos from going down.
Back in the ring, Tony Schiavone introduces both Kenny and Hangman for their contract signing as the two make separate entrances, with Hangman’s lower-third mentioning that the Cowboy has “poor penmanship”.
With the mic in hand, Page notes that he doesn’t know what else to say and that the sooner he signs the contract, the sooner he gets to beat Kenny’s ass to win the AEW World Title. He promptly signs the match contract.
Kenny provides a rebuttal, claiming that the Elite were the ones that picked up Hangman and put him back on the horse after his failures. He says that he saw a bit of himself in Hangman, but that he was wrong all along in that assertion.
Page responds, talking about how Kenny once had a certain partner he felt that he didn’t measure up to. And now that Kenny has been AEW World Champ for over a year, maybe he’s surpassed him. The fans reacted, knowing fully well who Hangman is alluding to.
Page says that the biggest lie that Kenny has ever told him was last year after the World Title Eliminator finals when Kenny told him that he was “proud of him”. Hangman says that Kenny didn’t want a fire lit under his ass so that he wouldn’t redeem himself.
Kenny says that he did all that because he supposedly cared about Hangman, and that there’s no telling if they’ll ever be friends again. However, he wants to have one last handshake before Saturday’s match. The two opponents shake hands as Kenny once again tells Page that “he’s proud of him”.
The cameraman hits Hangman with the camera, unmasking himself to reveal that carny piece of shit Don Callis underneath. Callis brags about how the “greatest trick that the devil pulled was making everyone forget about him”. Kenny takes a look at a bleeding Hangman and proceeds to sign the match contract with his opponent’s blood.
We end the night with the AEW World Champion standing tall over his challenger… perhaps for the last time?
—
Friday on Rampage (11/12/21)
- Jungle Boy vs. Bobby Fish
- Lumberjack Match: Orange Cassidy vs. “Big Money” Matt Hardy
Saturday at Full Gear (11/13/21)
- AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega vs. “Hangman” Adam Page
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Tay Conti
- Falls Count Anywhere: The SuperKliq (Adam Cole and the Young Bucks) vs. Christian Cage & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus)
- Darby Allin vs. MJF
- CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston
- Minneapolis Street Fight: The Inner Circle vs. American Top Team & Men of the Year
- Cody Rhodes & PAC vs. Malakai Black & Andrade el Idolo
- World Championship Eliminator Finals: Bryan Danielson vs. Miro
- The Buy-In: Hikaru Shida & Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter & Nyla Rose
—
The Last Word
A solid go-home show marked by tremendous in-ring action and a hot closing segment.
The tag match between Lio Rush & Dante Martin vs. Lee Moriarty & Matt Sydal was easily the match of the evening. For his actual in-ring debut (not counting his short appearance during the Casino Battle Royal earlier this year), Lio Rush brought his A-Game and proved why he’s the Man of the Hour. That isn’t to say that Dante Martin & Lee Moriarty didn’t impress on their own. The two managed to create their own pace to help accelerate this match into an exciting barnburner that helped keep the quality of action along. It’s not every day that a Bryan Danielson match is somehow outdone in terms of quality, but this tag team match managed to do just that.
And speaking of the American Dragon, his match with Rocky Romero was a fantastic way to open the show, with Bryan operating at the same level he’s been going at ever since arriving at All Elite Wrestling. While Dragon had a hard-hitting match just days away from his World Title Eliminator Finals bout with Miro, his opponent is a bit fresher. Will that factor in on Saturday?
Adam Cole bringing in Bobby Fish as his hitman of sorts to take Jungle Boy out ahead of the tag team match on Saturday brought an undisputed amount of hints with it. Whether this is a one-off deal or if there’s more to this long-time friendship materializing in AEW is anyone’s guess.
The contract signing segment served to give Kenny a bit of heel heat heading into the PPV by having him score the upper hand on Hangman one last time. And based on tradititonal wrestling logic, Kenny getting his moment in the sun on the go-home show most certainly means that he loses on PPV, which should hopefully alleviate fears that AEW won’t pull the trigger on Hangman winning.
While AEW advanced the World Title match and the Minneapolis Street Fight (which similarly also had the heel American Top Team standing tall to telegraph the outcome on Saturday), we didn’t get an advancement angle for Darby Allin vs. MJF, with only a video package reminding us that this match is coming.
Meanwhile, CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston’s match got a wild backstage segment where the two exchanged barbs at each other while multiple people kept them separate. There won’t be that kind of separation to keep those two apart for Saturday, that’s for certain.
The hard sell for Full Gear began in earnest with an enjoyable Dynamite filled with in-ring action that lives up to AEW’s all elite moniker, and we’ll see if Rampage can continue that momentum.
RingCrashers’ complete Full Gear predictions can be found here, while special guest writer Charlie Davis offers their own personal take on the long journeys of Hangman Page and Kenny Omega with an essay you can find here. Meanwhile, you can find me live-tweeting all the Full Gear action tomorrow night on my Twitter.
—
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.
