AEW Dynamite Review - September 23, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Miro and Kip Sabian def. Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela; Eddie Kingston Called Out AEW World Champion Jon Moxley

Miro looks to be in fantastic shape and he had a strong showing here as a dominant monster, but that was about the only highlight from this match. Everyone else was off their game and the match was a mess on the whole. It was also the wrong choice to open the show. As I've said before, Miro is a great get for AEW, but I fear that his pairing with Sabian has a very limited shelf life. He's above this nonsense and the tag team division for that matter. It's also made Penelope Ford a total afterthought in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Kingston's post-match promo calling out Moxley was short, sweet and exactly what it needed to be.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Evil Uno

The Dark Order has been attempting to recruit Page for some time now, and when I say "some time," I'm talking back since November or December. Obviously, he won't join and he's merely facing members from the group to kill time as his story with Kenny Omega plays out. On the bright side, this was well-wrestled and they made nice use of the time they had. I've been digging the storyline with Page and Omega and I'm looking forward to the next chapter, whatever it may be.

AEW TNT Champion Brodie Lee def. Orange Cassidy

Cassidy attempted to take Lee to the limit here, but what I didn't understand about it was that Lee literally killed Cody in a matter of minutes a month ago. I realize Cassidy beat Chris Jericho twice, but he should still be no threat to Lee. I hated the interference, but it was a good match otherwise with the right result. Cody returned afterward with the darker hair we haven't seen from him in a few years and it made sense for him to resume his rivalry with Lee. I'm just curious what this loss means for Cassidy and where he goes from here.

Inner Circle Interrupted Matt Hardy and Private Party

Hardy sure made it sound like Dark Order attacked him because he hinted at challenging Lee for the AEW TNT Championship, but then he turned his focus to Inner Circle, so that was odd. At any rate, this was a solid segment. I liked the back-and-forth promos from Hardy and Jericho, but Private Party need to work on their mic skills. Jericho taking on Isiah Kassidy next week should be fun, but it feels like filler because I don't expect Kassidy to win.

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR Denied a Challenge From Best Friends

FTR and Tully Blanchard announced here that it will be FTR vs. SCU next week, and if SCU can't win within 20 minutes, FTR will be awarded the victory. Their original encounter a few months ago was excellent, so that should be a blast as well. Best Friends interrupted them and challenged FTR to an impromptu bout, but FTR declined. Obviously, that will be FTR's next title defense and I'm glad AEW isn't rushing into it. I can see that being saved for the anniversary episode next month.

AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida and NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa def. Diamante and Ivelisse

I had high hopes because of the immense amount of talent involved, but it ended up being slightly above average. They weren't given nearly enough time to have the match they were capable of, but even with what we got, there were some awkward moments and it lacked a sense of urgency for most of it. The story was that Shida and Rosa were able to coexist, but there was no hint that a rematch is on the horizon. That's still what I'd love to see eventually, however, especially since there's nothing else that makes as much sense right now in AEW's women's division.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley def. Eddie Kingston

A six-man tag team match pitting Moxley, Darby Allin and Will Hobbs against Lance Archer, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks was supposed to main-event this episode, but Archer apparently tested positive for COVID-19 (or was at least around someone who contracted it) and had to pulled from the show. Thus, Kingston received a shot at the strap instead. He was never technically eliminated from the Casino Battle Royale at All Out, but it should have been explained why this was for the title. Nonetheless, this was a perfectly competent main event. Kingston is better known for his promos than his matches, and without a hardcore stipulation, this was pretty basic. Afterward, Moxley got attacked along with Allin and Hobbs by Kingston, The Lucha Brothers and Starks, seemingly setting up a different six-man tag team affair for either next week or the week after.

Overall Show

While I thought last week's edition of Dynamite was much hotter on the whole, this was still an effective episode that did more to move things forward than deliver anything must-see. The opener got the night off on a rough note, but the promo work was a highlight and the hype for the next few weeks of TV was well done. That said, none of the matches stood out in a major way and thus the show felt slightly underwhelming by recent Dynamite standards.