AEW Dynamite Review - October 18, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jay White def. Penta El Zero Miedo

With White set to challenge for the AEW World Championship at Full Gear, there was no way he was losing here, but he and Penta had the fun opener you'd expect from them. It's generally a treat whenever these guys are in action and this was no exception. My only nitpick is that White won off interference from the rest of Bullet Club Gold, when in reality he should have won on his own. I understand it gets him heel heat, but he shouldn't need to cheat to beat Penta of all people.

AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida def. Emi Sakura in an AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Match

Shida and Sakura have a history together that was discussed in the pre-match video package (they also faced off a few times last year on Dark and/or Rampage last year), but this was pretty random and should have been built up in advance. Hell, Sakura lost her last televised match on Rampage last week against Skye Blue, so what exactly earned her this opportunity? They had a well-wrestled match and I'm all for the women getting television time, but more effort in explaining this sort of stuff would be appreciated.

Wardlow def. Ryan Nemeth

The match was more of the same from Wardlow in that he stormed down to the ring, won with one move in under a minute, and that was it. Pure destruction of Nemeth is what I love to see. Tony Schiavone attempted to interview Wardlow afterward and pointed out that he had "MJF" written on his wrist tape, but Wardlow shoved him out of the way and didn't answer. It'd be interesting if an MJF vs. Wardlow feud is imminent because I'd argue Wardlow needs more high-profile wins first.

Kyle Fletcher Confronted The Don Callis Family; Kenny Omega def. Fletcher

I appreciated that Hobbs was given the mic time to explain why he joined The Don Callis Family and he made the most of the opportunity. He cut a passionate promo about holding a grudge against Chris Jericho after how Jericho treated him and his grandmother at a meet-and-greet many years ago. The logic was faulty because, well, why wouldn't he have exacted revenge sooner, but I appreciate the effort, nonetheless. Interestingly, Don Callis teased extending an offer to Fletcher to join, so we'll see if that leads to anything. The subsequent match between Omega and Fletcher was excellent and exactly the show-stealer I was hoping for from them. This was a hell of a showing from Fletcher, who could have a bright future as a singles star.

Lance Archer def. Barrett Brown

AEW has a tendency to dust Archer off every so often, build him up with a string of wins over jobbers, have him lose whenever it matters most, and then take him off television for months at a time. As a result, it's impossible to care about the dude at this point, even if I enjoy his shtick. This was every Lance Archer squash we've ever seen. The questions is what purpose it was supposed to serve. On a side note, Archer did not have Jake Roberts in his corner here.

Sting Announced His Intention to Retire at Revolution

Sting was advertised to speak coming into this episode and it was obvious he was going to announce his retirement, but it wasn't known when he'd decide to hang up the boots. I assumed it would be Winter Is Coming in December (where he debuted three years ago), but saving it for pay-per-view makes more sense, specifically Revolution where he had his first match for AEW in 2021. Sting's such a great talker and I wish he'd get a chance to cut more promos. He's had a hell of a run in AEW and I'm looking forward to this last ride.

Sting Saved Darby Allin From AEW TNT Champion Christian Cage, Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne

This stemmed from a sit-down interview Jim Ross conducted in the back with Wayne and his mother. It certainly wasn't the strongest segment, to say the least. The brawl that followed was fine and it seemingly sets up a six-man tag team match for another time with Sting, Allin and Adam Copeland vs. Christian, Luchasaurus and Wayne. Wayne hasn't been believable in the heel role so far, but at least Christian is there to carry him.

Juice Robinson Won the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale Challenge AEW World Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF for the Dynamite Diamond Ring

Robinson was the only star with any actual momentum coming into this Battle Royale, so him winning was no real surprise. They attempted to add some drama with the Max Caster story and that made for a solid final stretch with him and Robinson, but this was your average Battle Royale otherwise. The Dynamite Diamond Ring has never been treated as anything other than a prop for MJF to carry around for all these years, so I didn't think this was the most exciting main event a shot at it was on the line.

Overall Show

The Sting announcement was the only thing really worth noting about this episode with only the main event coming close, and even that wasn't the most exciting development because the Dynamite Diamond Ring doesn't have a ton of value from a storyline standpoint. There was some quality wrestling throughout the two hours and Omega vs. Fletcher was a blast, but this felt like a filler show on the whole.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews