AEW Dynamite Review - October 28, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Wardlow in a World Title Eliminator Semifinal Match

Wardlow has really impressed me every chance he's had since making his in-ring debut earlier this year. Page was the rightful winner and made the most sense to advance, of course, but he and Wardlow worked wonderfully together and I appreciated how Wardlow didn't go down easily. Page has evolved into one of the best babyfaces in AEW today and this was evidence of that. They kicked off the night on a high note with the superb match they had here.

Eddie Kingston def. Matt Sydal

I feel like Kingston hasn't won many matches (or at least any of importance) since signing with AEW, so this was a necessary victory for him as he prepares to compete for Jon Moxley's AEW World Championship again at Full Gear. Granted, Sydal is no formal world champion, but he's a notable name and has credibility. The two of them had a quality contest here and Sydal continues to put in commendable performances that make him worthy of getting signed. Kingston forcing Sydal to say "I quit" afterward helped hype him vs. Moxley for the pay-per-view.

Excalibur Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with The Young Bucks and AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR

It's crazy to me how AEW took a match everyone was amped for six months ago and gradually killed the excitement for it. FTR have been booked like stars, but the way Young Bucks have been handled since the summer has been super questionable. They'll win and lose random matches, they never had to work their way back to title contention, and they were acting like total jerks to everyone up until last week. Why would anyone want to cheer them? The back-and-forth the two teams had here was decent, but most of what Young Bucks said felt forced. Speaking of forced, that stipulation with Young Bucks claiming that they'll never again challenge for the tag titles if they lose at Full Gear is just that. It's literally what AEW did with Cody at Full Gear a year ago. I doubt the same thing happens with Young Bucks, so it makes the finish fairly obvious and that's a bummer.

Inner Circle's Town Hall Meeting Ended with Chris Jericho vs. MJF Being Made Official for Full Gear

Between the debate, MJF's campaign and now this, AEW sure loves to reference the ongoing election, huh? I didn't have high hopes for this as a result of that, not to mention that MJF being anywhere near comedy right now isn't my idea of booking him properly, but this segment ended up being the highlight of the night. It was well done, Jericho and MJF were awesome, and even the returning Eric Bischoff played his role well. I still have no clue where this story with Jericho and MJF is headed, but a singles match between them at Full Gear intrigues me. Granted, both guys need big wins at the moment, but I'm curious what the endgame of the angle will be.

AEW TNT Champion Cody def. Orange Cassidy in a Lumberjack Match

I'm genuinely curious what the purpose of the Lumberjack stipulation was, because to me, it did nothing but invite interference from the wrestlers surrounding ringside. I thoroughly enjoyed Cody vs. Cassidy from the anniversary edition of Dynamite and thought it was Cassidy's best match to date, and while this was pretty good, it wasn't on the same level. I'm honestly not sure why it was needed when Cody vs. Darby Allin was all but set in stone for Full Gear, anyway. Meanwhile, Cassidy will face John Silver on the pre-show at Full Gear and I can't possibly bring myself to care.

NWA World Women's Champion Serena Deeb def. Leyla Hirsch

In case you missed it, Deeb won the NWA World Women's title from Thunder Rosa at a UWN Primetime Live event on Tuesday night, so I guess that makes the belt property of AEW for now seeing as how Deeb is an AEW contracted competitor. She's a great fit for the role with the experience she has and Hirsch was an excellent first challenger for her coming off the impressive outing she had on Tuesday's Dark against Hikaru Shida. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more of these women on Dynamite going forward.

Shawn Spears def. VSK

The commentators noted how Spears has more wins than anyone else this year in AEW (or something like that), but is that stat really that impressive when you consider most of those wins were against enhancement talent on Dark? Don't get me wrong, I like Spears, but he's been damaged by bad booking for over a year now and this little win streak he's had going hasn't helped a ton. As for VSK, he's made a few appearances on Dark before, but Spears squashed him here as he should have to keep this thing short and sweet. Spears and Scorpio Sky will finally go one-on-one next week, but I was left wondering why that won't be on the Full Gear pre-show instead of Cassidy vs. Silver.

Kenny Omega def. Penta El Zero Miedo in a World Title Eliminator Semifinal Match

Penta has so many names it's hard to keep track of what he's going by week to week. In all seriousness, this was an excellent main event, even though it was predictable as all hell. I mean, Penta wasn't even supposed to be in this spot, and if it was Omega vs. Rey Fenix instead as originally scheduled, Omega would have won that, too. That said, I'm not going to complain about getting a rematch from All In over two years ago. The action was entertaining enough that it made the predictability worth it and now we have Omega vs. Page to look forward to in the finals.

Overall Show

Is it just me or has Dynamite fallen into an underwhelming rut recently? I'm very likely in the minority on that one, but I feel like the last few shows haven't been special and have solely existed to fill TV time, similar to what NXT has experienced at certain points this year. What's weirder is that the card for Full Gear is shaping up to be top-notch, but the editions of Dynamite leading up to it haven't been too strong. Look at this show as an example. The two World Title Eliminator matches were well-wrestled but terribly predictable. The stuff with Young Bucks vs. FTR has fallen flat for me because of what they've done with Young Bucks since All Out. Jericho and MJF are holding my interest, but the jury is out on where their story is headed. The rest of this episode was simply sort of there. AEW really needs a hot go-home show next week to sell people on the pay-per-view that has potential on paper.