Cero Reviews AEW Dynamite 10.23: PAC vs MOX

[cero2k]

AEW Dynamite
October 23rd, 2019
Pittsburgh, PA

AEW Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match
Lucha Brothers vs Private Party - 7.5/10
Crowd is hot tonight! This was a fucking sprint, top to bottom, what smart fans would call a spotfest. Total dominance by the Lucha Bros without taking anything away from Private Party that had a lot of momentum gathered, just not control.

Wardlow Vignette - He's coming, big boy Wardlow.

Dark Order Video Package - Same from Dark, it's good.

AEW Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match
S.C.U. (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs The Dark Order - 7.5/10
Last week, it was Scorpio Sky that got to be the hero of SCU, this time around, he was the babyface in peril. Just like the Lucha Bros, The Dark Order had complete dominance in this match for most of it, even after Kaz's hot tag, Dark Order regained control, it wouldn't be until the end when Sky was able to return to the match that SCU got the necessary momentum going to turn things around and take it to the end, when SCU hit like a Bitter End into a Kneelift. Great match too.

Next week, Lucha Bros vs SCU for the Tag Team TItles!

During the match, The Inner Circle, who were not scheduled to be here tonight, entered the arena and headed to the VIP area. Hager is not with them.

Joey Janela vs Kenny Omega - 8/10
Omega was introduced as the Megacampeon of AAA, which everyone speculated wouldn't happen because Moxley's US title is not mentioned. I don't know why anyone would think those two are the same thing.

Seems like the point of this match was to show Janela's wrestler side, still crazy, but he's not just a hardcore freak. Because of that, Janela actually controlled Omega for a bit and went toe-to-toe with him throughout the match. At least up until he went for a high risk senton to the apron, Omega dodged, and thus Janela crashed and burned. Omega would follow with a V-Trigger and OWA for the win. A third good match for tonight.

Cody Rhodes Interview - Tony Schiavone interviewed Cody in the ring, he had a major announcement, but he kept getting interrupted by The Inner Circle with horns. Eventually Cody got tired of Jericho and told him he was gonna go up there and kick his ass. He was outnumbered until DUstin Rhodes came out to back him up. MJF came out too to back up Cody. Last man to come out was DDP of all people, could had been the Bucks, but no, it was DDP.

Cody and co. started heading up to brawl, forcing TIC to retreat to the VIP area. Cody straight up broke the window glass and the brawl erupted! It was chaos at the lobby, tons of security tried to break them up, I recognized some local wrestlers, particularly Andrew Palace. I think we are to believe that Cody may be facing legal repercussions for the brawl and breaking that glass.

Best Friends w/Orange Cassidy vs The Young Bucks - 7.5/10
Oh, here's the reason why the Bucks didn't come out, they were getting ready for their match tonight. Ok. Commentary told us this is a bit of a consolation match for the tournament losers, so they could restart their points chase. Orange Cassidy superkicked both Bucks before the match, but the Bucks came back with a double Superkick to take him out. OC would eventually get his revenge with a top rope splash (behind the ref's eyes).

This was mostly back and forward, both teams got to do their thing. Bucks cut the ring in half on Trent for a while, but it wasn't monumental like the two tournament matches we saw today. Bucks won with the More Bang For Your Buck.

I giggled at JR and Schiavone making fun of Excalibur for his large vocabulary, to the point that Excalibur sounded like his emotions got hurt. Two old cowboys making fun of the kid that decided to read a book rather than drink a beer. It kinda gave me the impression that the commentary team have finally gotten accustomed to each other and as they get to know each other, I guess some details have started to get in each other's nerves. Excalibur did get his Falcon Arrow joke in there.

Post-match - Bucks accepted the Santana and Ortiz challenge for Full Gear.

Britt Baker Video Package - It's all about her being the hometown girl and her work as a dentist and wrestler.

Jimmy Hayter vs Dr. Britt Baker, DMD - 5.5/10
ALL HAIL OEDO TAI! Hayter was a total heel, she controlled Baker for the start and first commercial, she even did a wet willy during the break. I can hear smart fans already saying that they're doing moves that don't cause damage, but unless that's your fetish, I've never seen anyone get a wet willy and not be mind fucked after it. Hayter kept that control until Baker made his comeback and locked in the Lockjaw for the win. Hey a hometown wrestler won? WTF!?

This was like a reverse squash, purely designed to give the hometown something nice.

Post-match - Jenn Decker interviewed Hayter backstage, but was quickly taken out by a pissed off Brandi Rhodes, who I think is turning Sith? She did quickly tweet "Don't Touch Me" and it maaaay be related with her previous announcement that she was going to stop coming out with Cody because her focus was all over the place.

Jon Moxley vs PAC - 6.5/10
PAC jumped Mox during his entrance with a chair. He choked him out with his jacket. He beat him up all over ringside for some minutes. Ref gave him the chance to drop the match, but Mox still went with it, only to take a kick and dive as soon as the bell rang. PAC kept that control until Mox landed a desperation front DDT on the apron and finally got some space to recover.

The rest of the match was mostly Moxley's comeback and the back and forward towards the time limit draw when both men took too long to hit their finishers, last minute being PAC who hit a 450 from the apron to the floor, but failed to land the Black Arrow when Mox moved. Mox hit the Paradigm Shift, but took too long to pin, and Mox still kicked out. The match wasn't bad, but it was short and kinda slow towards the middle. I loved the start tho.

Post-match - Fans were stupidly pissed off, so Mox hit the PS on the ref for some Stone Cold vibes.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was yet another super packed show, to the point that I felt somewhat tired by the time the main event came by. I still still excited, just mentally exhausted as I tried to process everything we got tonight. Three matches confirmed for Full Gear now, with at least two of them pretty heated now.