AEW Dynamite Review - January 12, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The SuperKliq, reDRagon and AEW Women's World Champion Britt Baker Attacked Best Friends

The Young Bucks are back after a one-week absence due to COVID-19 and are still teasing tension with the former Undisputed Era. I wonder what the latter group will ultimately be called since they can't use that name anymore. This was an effective segment to set up next week's mixed tag team match with Adam Cole and Baker taking on Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander. It's cool to see Cole and Baker interacting on TV together for the first time and I liked how AEW started the show with a talking segment for a change.

CM Punk def. Wardlow

This was a solid match from an in-ring standpoint, but it really excelled in storytelling with Wardlow on offense almost the entire time and MJF demanding he continue to brutalize him. The fact Wardlow wasn't disqualified for putting Punk through a table was silly, but that was my only complaint. Wardlow would have won had MJF not told him to keep going, so that further establishes tension between them. The split was heavily teased afterward and it looks like it's coming sooner rather than later. MJF also announced later on that it will be Punk vs. Shawn Spears next week.

Dante Martin​ def. Powerhouse Hobbs

Considering this told a similar story to what we got with Punk and Wardlow right before this, I would have saved this match for a little later on in the show. It was a quality contest with Martin working from underneath and ultimately avenging his loss to Hobbs from back in September. Unfortunately, the finish was overbooked with Jay Lethal randomly running to ringside and distracting Hobbs and costing him the victory. Martin is a star on the rise, but Hobbs loses far more often than he should. By the way, where the hell is Lio Rush? Martin's feud with Team Taz has already run its course.

Dan Lambert Interrupted AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page; Lance Archer Attacked Page

Page cut an excellent promo about his feud with Bryan Danielson, but I audibly groaned when Lambert interrupted him. I was one of the biggest proponents of AEW using Lambert last summer, but he's been so damn overexposed since then and there is no reason for him to be featured over so many others. That said, his appearance served a purpose as it tied into Archer coming back and seemingly rekindling his rivalry with Lambert only to attack Page instead. That should be a fun television feud for the next month or so even though there's zero chance Archer takes the title.

Serena Deeb def. Hikaru Shida by Referee Stoppage

This was the fourth match between these two since early October, though this was less of a match and more of an angle with Deeb viciously attacking Shida's knee beforehand. Deeb dominated her for two minutes before the referee called for the bell because she was targeting the injured knee for so long. Deeb was the right winner, and although the feud will continue, I don't have an issue with it because they work so well together. A fifth and final match is inevitable; it's just a matter of when it will happen. In the meantime, Deeb could be transitioning into a feud with Tay Conti seeing as how she came to Shida's aid afterward.

Penta El Zero Miedo def. Matt Hardy

This was a really random match when I saw it added to the show earlier in the day. Penta is without a partner right now with Fenix out injured, and Hardy is doing nothing of note at the moment because The Hardy Family Office has been an awful stable. Speaking of which, I hope Hardy's latest loss and him complaining backstage that something has to change leads to him ditching the group and either doing something different or reuniting with his brother Jeff, who will be a free agent in March. The match itself was enjoyable, but it was all about the post-match angle with Brody King finally debuting alongside Malakai Black and attacking Penta and Varsity Blonds. King and Black are a fantastic fit together and I get the feeling there may be more members of The House of Black to come.

The Acclaimed def. Bear Country

Although Bear Country are the ultimate enhancement team, they're always impressive and move around extremely well for two guys their size. This was a decent match while it lasted, but this was more about giving The Acclaimed than anything else. They almost never win on TV, but they won here to make them look like somewhat of a threat when they face Darby Allin and Sting next week on Dynamite. Allin and Sting laid out The Acclaimed afterward to set that up.

Interim AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara def. Daniel Garcia

The whole interim TNT title is just a mess, especially now that we know Cody Rhodes will indeed be back next week. If they just give the belt back to Guevara so this match could be contested for a championship? Either way, it wasn't main event-worthy in my opinion. It was a well-worked match and Garcia had a good showing as always, but I never thought the outcome was in doubt, and the outside shenanigans with Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston were unnecessary. They were only there to further their feud that I personally don't care about. This felt like an uneventful way to go off the air.

Overall Show

Archer returning and King debuting made this a slightly newsworthy show, but it wasn't the most exciting episode on the whole. There was more filler than usual and the second hour was significantly weaker than the first. Per usual, there was solid setup for Friday's Rampage and next week's Dynamite, but some of those backstage promos weren't the best. AEW needs to do a better job of featuring some people more consistently instead of the same faces. That's one of the problems with having such a stacked roster and three hours of television time (Dark and Elevation do not count).

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