AEW Dynamite Review - November 3, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega def. Alan Angels (Non-Title)

As the commentators alluded to, these two previously met one-on-one back in April 2020 on Dynamite. It was the early days of the pandemic and Angels had a breakout performance that night. It was cool to see them run it back now that in completely different places in their careers. It was an enjoyable opener and it was a treat to see Omega wrestle a singles match on Dynamite for a change. The post-match angle with Adam Page going after Omega and failing to connect with the Buckshot Lariat was simple and effective.

CM Punk Addressed Eddie Kingston

Punk has been fantastic at speaking from the heart since coming to AEW. It was awesome of him to address Jon Moxley's situation and wish him best as he enters an alcohol rehabilitation program. He didn't outright challenge Kingston to a match, but he did call him out for Friday's Rampage in St. Louis. That's a verbal exchange I'm extremely excited for. That should be where they set up their match for Full Gear.

Christian Cage and Jurassic Express Attacked The Super Kliq

We haven't seen Christian on AEW TV in a few weeks, though he did recently lose the Impact World Championship to Josh Alexander at IMPACT's Bound for Glory pay-per-view for those unaware. It's rare The Elite get their comeuppance, so it was nice to see the babyfaces get a measure of revenge on them for a change. I just didn't expect their assault to be as vicious as it was. For example, did Christian really need to hit the con-chair-to on Cole? I assume this leads to two separate matches at Full Gear with Christian facing Cole and Jurassic Express facing The Young Bucks.

AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR def. Samuray del Sol and Aerostar

Of course, Samuray is the former Kalisto from WWE. He was released back in April. As for Aerostar, some fans may remember him from his time in Lucha Underground and I believe he's made some appearances in IMPACT in recent years as well. These teams wrestle two totally different styles, which was what made it an entertaining match. The luchadors flew all over the place like only they can and FTR were fun foils for them. It was made official afterward that FTR will challenge The Lucha Brothers for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Full Gear.

Inner Circle Named Which Members of American Top Team They Will Face at Full Gear

It was pretty predictable where this was going as soon as Dan Lambert starting his promo by saying that he was the first member of American Top Team 25 years ago, but the crowd ate it up, regardless. Lambert has so much heat with the audience that it should be quite the sight to see him in the ring against Inner Circle. Men of the Year, Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski will also represent American Top Team. As I've mentioned before, this storyline hasn't done much for me, but I have no doubt the crowd will be loud for that 10-man tag team match in Minneapolis.

Jamie Hayter def. Anna Jay in an AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament First-Round Match

Hayter has ties to Britt Baker, who will be facing Jay's best friend Tay Conti at Full Gear. Thus, both the match and what happened afterward made sense. The match was decent while it lasted but far from a barn burner. The interference down the stretch was unnecessary, though. With Thunder Rosa making the save for Jay and Conti afterward, expect to see a six-woman tag team matchup between them and the trio of Baker, Hayter and Rebel one of these weeks.

Darby Allin and MJF Brawled

Although this segment lasted a little longer than it needed to (and I could've done without the shenanigans from Sting and The Pinnacle), but it still successfully served its purpose of furthering the feud between MJF and Allin. MJF did a majority of the talking, but Allin did well with what he had to say. The brawl offered fans a small taste of what they can look forward to in their upcoming clash.

Andrade El Idolo def. Cody Rhodes

Cody left WWE mere weeks before Andrade debuted in NXT, so the two just missed each other. Both guys are great, so unsurprisingly, this was top-notch stuff. There was some outside interference from FTR, who helped Andrade score the win, but there wasn't nearly as much of it as there was during Cody vs. Malaki Black III last month. This felt like it did more to build to FTR vs. Lucha Brothers than it did to anything with Cody and Black. Are we still going to get something with them, Black and Pac, either in a tag team match or a four-way?

John Silver Addressed Adam Cole

I don't know if this needed to happen in the ring in the form of an interview with Tony Schiavone, but to his credit, Silver cut a fine promo and hit the notes he needed to. He made a lot of references to the interactions he and Alex Reynolds have had with Cole on Being The Elite over the last month, so anyone who doesn't follow the show probably had zero clue what he was talking about when he called Cole "Budge". I enjoy their antics on the YouTube show, but I think it should be kept limited to that only.

Miro def. Orange Cassidy in an AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament Semifinal Match

With Moxley having to pull out of the tourney, Miro was named his replacement. You'll get no complaints out of me about that because he should have been in the damn thing to begin with. This marked his first match since losing the AEW TNT Championship in late September. I liked how Excalibur mentioned their history from the Arcade Anarchy match back in March. They didn't have a ton of time for this, but they packed quite a bit into it and they had an action-packed main event. Bryan Danielson vs. Miro at Full Gear should be a war.

Overall Show

Per usual, there was a lot going on throughout the episode, and some things are bound to be forgotten about as a result. That's what happens when you have such a stacked roster, but all in all, it was a thumbs-up show. They made the most of a bad situation at the end there and everything appears to be on track for Full Gear with more match announcements likely coming on Rampage or next week on Dynamite. This show was definitely more promo-heavy than wrestling, but at least everything served a purpose.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews