AEW Dynamite Review - July 5, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Darby Allin and AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy def. Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee in a Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match

This Blind Eliminator Tag Team tourney is so random that Lee and Strickland ended up back together after teaming for most of 2022 and feuding since then. Can they get the singles match over with already so we can finally move on? On the bright side, this was an enjoyable opener with all four guys working well together and the crowd being into the action. On a side note, the video package for the debuting Nick Wayne with comments from Allin was well done.

The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn def. The Blade and The Bollywood Boyz

This edition of Dynamite also emanated from Canada, so it was cool that Bollywood Boyz made an appearance here. Of course, they were just fodder for The Acclaimed and Gunn here in what was a fairly standard squash. QTV's Harley Cameron popped up on the big screen afterward with a message for the babyfaces, so now we're getting this feud on Dynamite. Ugh. You'd think Tony Khan would get the hint that this QTV crap isn't clicking.

Don Callis Confronted Chris Jericho

Jericho was a total babyface in front of this Canadian crowd. No, there was never a turn, so I assume it was just for this show. He and Callis have history and I'm actually surprised it took them this long to interact on AEW TV. Callis extended the offer to Jericho to join his new stable and Jericho left him with a "maybe." I wouldn't mind it if it meant Jericho Appreciation Society finally coming to an end. Speaking of which, Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia will be partners in the Blind Eliminator Tournament. Again, how "random" are these teams?

AEW World Champion MJF and Adam Cole def. "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and The Butcher

This entire tournament feels like a vehicle to further the feud between Cole and MJF and to keep their storyline going until All In where they can have another match for the AEW World Championship. They make for an entertaining team, so I can't complain. The match itself was fine, but the best stuff from these two on this show was the vignette of them at the gym and the post-match birthday celebration MJF threw for Cole. Hopefully Cole isn't made to look like too much of a moron for believing MJF's friendship is genuine before MJF inevitably betrays him.

Ruby Soho def. Britt Baker in a Women's Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal Match

With Saraya and Toni Storm being at ringside, you had to know this match would feature a ton of Outcasts interference and that's exactly what happened. You'd think Baker would have known better and brought backup, but apparently not. They had a good match and I liked that we got the finals of last year's women's Owen Hart Cup in the quarterfinals this year, but it was really hindered by all of the interference.

Kenny Omega def. Wheeler Yuta

This was a big spot for Yuta and the match made sense with Yuta having pinned Omega to win Anarchy in the Arena back at Double or Nothing. They had a very well-wrestled match and Yuta definitely held his own. Even in defeat, he had to gain more credibility with fans following that performance. The usual chaos closed the show with Konosuke Takeshita and Claudio Castagnoli attacking Omega before the rest of The Elite made the save, along with The Dark Order stopping Page from using a chair. Adam Page and The Young Bucks will face Dark Order again on Friday's Rampage, for anyone who cares.

Overall Show

This was a slight step over last week's inconsequential episode, but not by much. There were various storyline developments and I appreciated they didn't attempt to shove as much as possible into the two hours, but this Blind Eliminator tag tourney has been pretty lazy so far and it doesn't help we have another two tourneys going on right now with the Owen Hart Cups. The opening and closing matches were the highlights of this Dynamite along with everything involving Cole and MJF.

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