AEW Dynamite Review - September 16, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) (Non-Title)

FTR previously said they would give Jurassic Express a title shot on next week's episode if they won here, so I appreciated that there were actual stakes. It also made the nearfalls more suspenseful throughout and and made this feel less like an exhibition for FTR and more like a competitive contest. This was an awesome opener and I loved how FTR had to cheat to win, showing that Jurassic Express had their number and had a legitimate chance of winning. I'd definitely be down for an eventual rematch.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Frankie Kazarian

It's not often we see Kazarian compete on his own (at least on Dynamite, because he's had his fair share of singles matches on Dark this year), but it's a treat whenever he does. The end result was never in doubt, but Kazarian had a hell of a performance. I appreciated that he and Page didn't have to do anything flashy to have a superb match. Page got back on track with the win, but what he wanted most was to reunite with Kenny Omega, who walked to the back after sitting in on commentary for this. Instead, Omega's more focused on re-entering the singles ranks.

MJF def. Shawn Dean

I was skipping through the commercial, accidentally went too far and skipped the match entirely. Then I realized it was only six seconds, which it absolutely should have been. MJF is fresh off a loss to Jon Moxley at All Out, so having him win quickly and decisively was imperative. The real focus was on his post-match promo and how he teased forming a stable. That's a way better idea than splitting him from Warlow so soon because that would be a mistake in my opinion.

Eddie Kingston, The Butcher, The Blade and The Lucha Brothers Sent a Message

This was probably the only part of the show this week that I didn't care for. I assume it was designed to make the group look like a bunch of badasses, and while Kingston never ceases to kill it on the mic, seeing The Lucha Brothers, Butcher and Blade beat up some nobodies from the audience didn't do a ton for me, personally. It came across well enough, but I still don't understand the purpose of this faction. I'd rather see Kingston manage solely The Lucha Brothers because Butcher and Blade, while pretty good in the ring, bring not to the table character-wise for me.

Chris Jericho and Jake Hager def. Private Party

I'm still not sold on Jericho and Hager entering the tag team division, just because it's stacked as it is and they shouldn't be getting opportunities over teams who have been there since Day 1 like Private Party. That said, this was an enjoyable encounter with Private Party getting an ample amount of offense in before eating defeat. I did like Marq Quen laying out Jericho afterward. Hopefully that's a sign we'll either get a rematch or Jericho vs. Quen which could be interesting.

NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa def. Ivelisse

If Rosa isn't already signed to something of a full-time deal, she absolutely should be. She's a tremendous talent and has proven that in her matches on AEW programming so far. This was also Ivelisse's strongest showing to date. This was one of my favorite women's matches in AEW in recent memory along with Rosa vs. Hikaru Shida from All Out. Of course, the common denominator in both bouts is Rosa, though her opponents are excellent as well. I'm stoked that we're likely headed for a rematch between Rosa and Shida, this time for the NWA World Women's Championship.

Will Hobbs Saved AEW World Champion Jon Moxley From FTW Champion Brian Cage and Ricky Starks

A six-man tag team match pitting Moxley and two partners of his choosing against Lance Archer and two partners of his choosing was announced for next week's Dynamite, so this segment allowed them to pick their partners. Archer went with Team Taz with the caveat that if Archer wins the title next month (which he won't), Cage is owed the first shot. As for Moxley, him choosing Allin was perfectly logical given their history and Allin's bad blood with Team Taz lately, but Hobbs was a pleasant surprise. I'll never get over the fact he lost in his debut on Dark to Orange Cassidy in under 10 seconds (I'm well aware he wasn't signed at that point, but that was still an insanely stupid booking decision), but he has potential and next week will be a test to see if he has what it takes to hang with the top talent. This segment was strong all around.

Best Friends def. Santana and Ortiz in a Parking Lot Brawl

Holy hell, this was brutal. I suppose I should have expected that with this being a Parking Lot Brawl, and maybe it's because we don't see them often enough in wrestling nowadays, but they went above and beyond in delivering a wild piece of business. They busted their asses and took some crazy bumps. While I'm not all for wrestlers doing stuff that could potentially kill them or at least seriously hurt them, these spots appeared to have been done safely and wisely so no one's career was cut short, even though they came off as being reckless or too much. The face paint for Santana and Ortiz was a nice touch, too. My only nitpick of this was with Orange Cassidy's interference. Yes, Santana and Ortiz attacked him last week, but he should have stayed out of this like the rest of Inner Circle did. Speaking of whom, will this loss lead to Inner Circle splitting up? Do Santana and Ortiz take exception to Hager and Jericho joining the tag team ranks? The fallout from this will worth watching for.

Overall Show

It's been a while since we had a truly hot edition of Dynamite and this was it. As I mentioned earlier in the review, the segment with Kingston and his boys was the sole low point of the night for me, whereas everything else was effective, entertaining or both. The Parking Lot Brawl closed it out on a high note and the two hours on the two were just terrific. The hype for the following week's episode is always top-notch, but the execution of this show was especially exceptional and I applaud AEW for that. This is up there with one of my favorite editions of Dynamite all year; it was that strong.