AEW Dynamite Review - November 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bryan Danielson Crashed AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page's Celebration; Danielson def. Evil Uno

I was pleasantly surprised to see the championship celebration for Hangman kick off the episode. I don't think Dynamite has ever kicked off with a talking segment before. CM Punk did debut cutting a promo back in August, but that was on Rampage. Page cut a great, heartfelt promo and Danielson was perfect in his role as well by playing the heel. As we saw in late 2018 and in 2019 (and during parts of his run in Ring of Honor), Danielson can be an outstanding heel when he wants to be. I don't think he'll be a full-fledged bad guy in the long run but rather just for this feud. Meanwhile, Danielson vs. Uno was exactly what it needed to be with Danielson going over decisively. I think there's a good chance we get Danielson vs. Page for the title before the end of the year.

NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii and Orange Cassidy def. The Butcher and The Blade

First it was KENTA. Then it was Yuji Nagata followed by Satoshi Kojima. Minoru Suzuki came in at All Out and now we have Ishii. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi are coming soon, I can smell it! This was solid stuff. Seeing Ishii do Ishii things was the highlight. He and Cassidy have the CHAOS connection, but I desperately wish Cassidy and Best Friends would move away from feuding with the Hardy Family Office goof troop. The stable simply isn't working and hasn't elevated anyone.

Nyla Rose def. Hikaru Shida in an AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

This was the third match these two have had dating back to Double or Nothing 2020, and considering Shida won the first two encounters, it was time for Rose to get one over on her. Besides, Shida had the out with the "injured" knee and Rose targeted that during the finish, so it made sense. The match itself didn't blow the roof off the joint but it was largely well wrestled and accomplished what it needed to. I'm glad it looks like we're going to get at least one more match between Shida and Serena Deeb.

CM Punk Confronted MJF

Between his backstage promo earlier in the evening and what he said at the start of this segment, I assumed MJF would either announce his intentions of challenging for the AEW World Championship after Danielson or resuming his rivalry with Darby Allin (which isn't necessary right now). Instead, we got Punk confronting him and I couldn't have been happier. We knew this was inevitable, but I'm shocked we getting it so soon. This was perfectly executed with Punk not saying a single word and walking away. AEW needs to be wise and give that program some time instead of rushing it like the did with Punk and Eddie Kingston.

Lio Rush and Dante Martin def. The Acclaimed

I'm really digging the duo of Rush and Martin. They work amazingly well together and I look forward to Darius Martin eventually returning and wanting his brother back (and Rush turning heel on Dante soon after). This was a fun tag team affair. The Acclaimed never win whenever it matters most, but at least they're always entertaining in defeat. Speaking of people who never win when it matters most, I can't muster a ton of enthusiasm for Team Taz being the next rivals for Rush and Martin, but the matches have potential.

AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara def. Jay Lethal

I was really happy to see this positioned as the main event seeing as how the TNT title has been a total afterthought since Guevara won it in September. I feel like we should have gotten a video package to introduce viewers to Lethal who may not already be familiar with him (Ring of Honor has flown under the radar for the last decade), but at least he cut a pre-taped promo beforehand. Both guys had strong showings and Lethal should have been especially impressive to the fans who didn't know of him already. This was a wonderful main event. I would've gone with a title change here to switch things up, but that's just me.

Overall Show

Last week's edition of Dynamite had a little bit of everything and I feel like the same can be said for this show as well, which is why I enjoyed it so much. I was worried we would get more of the same coming out of Full Gear, but AEW established that they're moving in new directions with several people and planted the seeds for some stuff. The main event delivered, the Punk and MJF interaction got me extremely excited, Ishii making an appearance was cool, the women had a quality contest, Rush and Martin did their thing, and the first 30 minutes were the best part. I have no complaints and came away from this episode very satisfied.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews