AEW Dynamite Review - November 23, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bryan Danielson Got In Between William Regal and Jon Moxley

We still don't know if Regal and MJF will be officially aligned going forward or not (we won't find out until next week when MJF returns), but the idea of Regal being a heel again is extremely exciting to someone like me who grew up on him as the general manager of WWE Raw. It wasn't long before he was interrupted by Moxley's music, and Moxley likely would have gone after him had it not been for Danielson. I have no idea where any of this is going, but color me intrigued.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. Jake Hager; House of Black Returned

I'm all for Cassidy having fun matches as All-Atlantic Champion on the regular against random opponents, but I can't say Hager was a very compelling challenger for them. Their match was perfectly fine and the crowd enjoyed the hat bit, even though it didn't do much for me, personally. The best part was House of Black returning afterward and laying waste to the Best Friends crew and The Factory. They've been missed on the program.

Ricky Starks def. "All Ego" Ethan Page in the Finals of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament to Become the No. 1 Contender to the AEW World Championship

After being into everything up to this point, the crowd quieted down once the bell rang for this match, Starks was over and they wanted to see him win, but I don't think this Page pairing with Malcom Bivens is working. They told a solid story with Starks fighting through his (kayfabe) injury and ultimately prevailing. He was absolutely the correct choice to earn the next shot at the AEW World Championship. Him against MJF at Winter Is Coming should be a blast.

AEW World Trios Champions Death Triangle (Pac and The Lucha Brothers) def. The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) in Match #2 in the AEW World Trios Championship Best-of-7 Series 

The Elite came back as beloved babyfaces at Full Gear over the weekend, and yet they were booed by a vast majority of this Chicago crowd for obvious reasons. This was as chaotic as their encounter at Full Gear, so if you dig this sort of stuff, you were probably a fan of this match, but if not, you probably hated it. I get the feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot throughout this Best of 7 Series. The top takeaway for me was how The Elite trolled the crowd about CM Punk, specifically when Omega hit the GTS on Pac. What's ridiculous is that he said in an interview this week that fans should "let it go" about the events that transpired backstage immediately following All Out, and yet he was pulling that crap.

AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter & Britt Baker def. Tay Jay A.S. and Skye Blue & Willow Nightingale in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

Renee Paquette made the announcement beforehand that Thunder Rosa has relinquished the AEW Women's World Championship, making Hayter the official title holder. That was the right call. The three-way tag match that followed was completely unnecessary. I get wanting to get Hayter in action on the show, but they have no established issues with either team and I don't blame the crowd for sitting on their hands for most of it.

Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett Interrupted AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn

As much as I'd like them to tone down the dumb scissoring stuff, The Acclaimed are undoubtedly over. I was curious who would be next to challenge them, and it looks like we may have found our answer. I'm very underwhelmed, to say the least. Not only did Lethal and Jarrett lose their tag match at Full Gear, I have zero desire to see Jarrett still on AEW TV when there's so many people we don't see enough of. Thankfully, this was brief.

ROH World Champion Chris Jericho def. Tomohiro Ishii

Of all the people Jericho faced in New Japan Pro-Wrestling during his 2018-2020 stint there, Ishii was not among them. We haven't gotten much of Ishii in AEW, but it's always a treat when he pops up for the occasional match. He and Jericho beat the hell out of each other (look at Jericho's bloody chest for proof) and the crowd came alive by the end. Considering Jericho pinned Claudio Castagnoli in that four-way at Full Gear, I don't find him interesting as an opponent for Jericho at Final Battle. That should've been the Full Gear match.

Overall Show

I feel like Chicago has lost its luster as a crowd in recent years and hasn't been as hot as they were once known to be (regardless of the company), but they were white-hot on this show. In fact, other than the opening segment, they were the highlight for me. The show started strong and closed on a high note with that main event, but a lot of what we got in the middle fell flat for me.

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