AEW Dynamite Review - December 11, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jon Moxley def. Alex Reynolds

Reynolds and John Silver are the pair of enhancement guys AEW brings in once in a while to make other people look good. They just actually lost to Jurassic Express on Wednesday's episode of AEW Dark. The match literally lasted no more than 15 seconds after Moxley connected with the Paradigm Shift and pinned him for the victory. Afterward, Chris Jericho loosely ran down their history and offered him in a spot in The Inner Circle. He obviously won't accept, but it made for a nice hook, nonetheless. It's an effective way of dragging out their feud without rushing into them facing off one-on-one so soon.

The Butcher and The Blade def. QT Marshall and Cody

Although you had to know Marshall was eating the pinfall as soon as he was announced for this, that didn't hinder my enjoyment of it. Marshall surprisingly did most of the in-ring work for his team and it was nice to see him get a chance to shine. He comes across as a bit basic for my liking, but at least he made the most of the opportunity had here. The Butcher and The Blade won as they should have, but I still couldn't care less about them as characters. Darby Allin confronted Cody at ringside, seemingly planting the seeds for an alliance between them.

MJF Agreed to Face Cody

MJF remains one of AEW's best mic workers. It's just a shame we don't seem to hear from him more often. Jericho tends to cut a lot of promos on the show, so why can't MJF? Nonetheless, he offered an excellent response to Cody's challenge last week and actually accepted said offer, noting that there would be a few stipulations that he'll announce on the first episode of Dynamite in 2020 three weeks from now. I was worried they were going to give away the match on next week's show, so I'm happy they appear to be holding off until the Revolution pay-per-view in February.

Big Swole def. Emi Sakura

There was a terrific video package that aired on Swole on this week's AEW Dark. I just wish we'd see something like that on Dynamite, because as it currently stands, fans don't have much of a reason to care about either of these women. Sakura has been on the show quite a bit over the past two months, but Swole is still a fresh face. It was a perfectly solid match with a surprising outcome. I like that the newbies are picking up wins over establishes names like Sakura and Hikaru Shida and climbing up in the rankings. More mic time is needed, though.

"Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega def. Kip Sabian and Shawn Spears

I realize the lights going out is a part of Spears' entrance, but it feels like AEW does it every week with him and others and it's already gotten old. Did the lights really need to go out when Tully Blanchard was shown tied up on the stage by Joey Janela? That aside, it furthered the feud between Spears and Janela and the tag team match itself was entertaining. Page's blind tag to Omega at the end was a nice little teaser that he could be going heel soon.

Luchasaurus def. Sammy Guevara

Jericho will take on Jungle Boy next week, so this supposed to serve as somewhat of a preview of that with the two factions feuding at the moment. Guevara scored some impressive offense and looked credible in defeat, but this was all about Luchasaurus and making him out to look like more of a monster than he already is. Marko Stunt pretended counting three when Jungle Boy pinned Jericho during the post-match brawl, giving viewers the idea that there's a chance Jungle Boy could conceivably win.

The Young Bucks def. Santana and Ortiz in an AEW World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Texas Street Fight

The chemistry these two teams have is so strong that I assumed this would be an outstanding main event and they did not disappoint. The Bucks and Satana and Ortiz made the most of the stipulation and put their bodies through absolute hell. I honestly expected the Bucks to go over and get their revenge against Santana and Ortiz, but there's no denying that Santana and Ortiz losing would have meant more had they not suffered their first loss in AEW to Private Party randomly a few weeks ago. I am looking forward to the Bucks vs. SCU next week for the AEW World Tag Team Championship based off how well they worked together in Ring of Honor.

Overall Show

I found this edition of Dynamite to be another above-average effort from AEW. Not every match was a home run, but the wrestling on the whole was enjoyable, especially the main event. That vignette with Brandi Rhodes was confusing, but I am digging what they're doing with The Dark Order finally. Props to AEW for ending the year on a high note. Between Jericho vs. Jungle Boy, the tag titles being defended and The Lucha Brothers vs. Omega and Page, AEW is determined to combat NXT's loaded show next week. Regardless of what you'll be watching, I think we can all agree it'll be an incredibly exciting night for wrestling fans.