AEW Dynamite Review - January 25, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara) def. Action Andretti and Ricky Starks

Jericho Appreciation Society have lost every match they've had so far against Andretti and Starks, so I was fine with them winning here due to outside interference from Daniel Garcia. Specifically, I'm glad it was Andretti who was pinned and not Starks. This was a well-worked match with solid showings from all involved. I'm curious what the ultimate endgame of this angle is going to be. I assume it's Starks vs. Jericho II, hopefully with Starks winning clean again.

AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin def. Buddy Matthews

Allin has been killing it so far in his second reign as TNT champ and this was another enjoyable outing from him. Matthews hasn't had a chance to really showcase his skills on his own since coming to AEW, but he did here and I thought he made the most of the opportunity. Allin was interviewed by Tony Schiavone afterward but didn't have a chance to speak before being interrupted by Samoa Joe, who is coming for his rematch. Sign me the hell up for that rubber match.

JungleHook def. The Firm ("All Ego" Ethan Page and Matt Hardy)

Hook and Jack Perry previously beat The Firm's Big Bill and Lee Moriarty earlier this month, so it was logical for them to face off with Page and Hardy here. I've grown to dig the dynamic Page and Hardy have together and Page in particular has played has been excellent in his role. This was a quality contest with the right result. As the commentators noted, Hook and Perry work well together as partners, but I have no desire to see them form a permanent team seeing as how Perry just entered singles competition not too long ago.

Bryan Danielson def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage

Although this was easily the weakest of all the Danielson matches we've seen so far in his feud with MJF as well as the most predictable, it was still fun for what it was. I've been happy with how many matches Cage has gotten on AEW TV in recent months, but it became clear this week that his increased presence on programming is because is contract is coming due soon and Tony Khan is probably hoping to retain his services. Post-match, MJF and Cage attacked Danielson before Konosuke Takeshita made the save. The story is that Danielson may not be medically cleared to continue with this weekly matches, but Danielson will fight through the pain per usual.

Ruby Soho def. Toni Storm

If it wasn't already apparent last week, Storm is officially a heel. I like the idea of AEW originals facing ex-WWE women, though Soho isn't an AEW original. I thought she would turn heel and join Storm and Saraya, and maybe she still will, but there was no indication of that here. If anything, it looks like she might form a temporary alliance with Britt Baker considering she helped her win here. This was a good effort from both women to keep the storyline going.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe def. Jay Lethal

All of this was beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful. It was less about the match and more about paying tribute to the late, great Jay Briscoe, but even the match itself was terrific. I can't imagine how hard it was for Briscoe and Lethal to go out there under these circumstances, but maybe it was therapeutic for them in a way, specifically Mark. I loved every second of this, including the many Ring of Honor alumni standing on the stage afterward to hug Mark and pay their respects to Jay. This will go down as one of the coolest moments in Dynamite history.

Overall Show

I really, really appreciate Tony Khan being able to work things out with WarnerMedia to not only acknowledge The Briscoes on this show but honor Jay with an emotional video package and then with his brother Mark wrestling in the main event. I wish it didn't take Jay passing away for The Briscoes to finally appear on AEW TV, but at least they did the right thing. Needless to say, nothing else came close to the Briscoes stuff, but this was another entertaining edition of Dynamite on the whole. It was very wrestling-heavy, but the in-ring action delivered and there was some storyline advancement as well. A few more promos would have been nice, but again, I can't complain when we got what we did at the end. That was tremendous.

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