AEW Dynamite Review - September 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW International Champion Rey Fenix def. Jeff Jarrett

Tony Khan tweeted that both Fenix and Jon Moxley were injured in their match last week but that Fenix was cleared shortly before this show. Here's wishing Moxley a speedy recovery because that bump he took from Fenix looked nasty. As for this open challenge, Jarrett wasn't exactly who I had in mind as Fenix's opponent. Granted, I didn't have any one name in mind, but Jarrett was not a strong choice. They had a well-worked match, but the shenanigans with Jarrett's crew at ringside were definitely distracting as well as overkill.

The Don Callis Family Addressed Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho and Kota Ibushi

Footage was shown of Konosuke Takeshita attacking Kota Ibushi at his dojo. The Don Callis Family spent the rest of the segment addressing their WrestleDream opponents ahead of the stacked six-man tag team match on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it and the mic work here was solid, but it's funny how Sammy Guevara accused Chris Jericho of overshadowing him (which is true) and yet he was overshadowed in this segment. Coming out of WrestleDream, I hope Takeshita and Guevara are kept separate with Don Callis managing them separately.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Nick Jackson def. Brian Cage and Claudio Castagnoli in an AEW International Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Match

What a random match. Perhaps it was explained on commentary, but were these three chosen because they've had matches with Fenix in the past? That's actually why Jackson won as they had a memorable singles match on one of the first episodes of Dynamite four years ago and the anniversary edition of Dynamite is next week. This was fun for what it was and I'm glad Jackson actually earned the opportunity as opposed to it being yet another open challenge.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Adam Cole Announced His Injury; Jay White Interrupted AEW World Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF

This was quite the lengthy segment and I'm not complaining. Cole unfortunately confirmed the injury he suffered last week as well as how he'll need surgery. It's unknown how long he'll be out of action for, though. He exited with Roderick Strong and The Kingdom (which was just a coincident and not because they're aligned) and White immediately interrupted MJF. I didn't think their verbal exchange started strong, but it picked up once White took the mic and attempted to tease tension within Better Than You BayBay. White has largely been established on Collision this year, so hopefully the masses view him as a legitimate threat to the AEW World Championship (even if it feels obvious MJF is holding onto the gold at least until Cole comes back).

Orange Cassidy def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Matt Jackson, Austin Gunn and Penta El Zero Miedo in a Four-Way Match

I don't know that I would have done this match on the same show as the three-way from earlier. It was similar in terms of layout and also featured a bunch of tag team guys going at it. Nothing was at stake, but it served as a nice preview of what we can expect in the AEW World Tag Team Championship number one contender's four-way tag team match at WrestleDream. This was all action and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, so there was that.

Julia Hart def. Willow Nightingale

Nightingale looked ridiculous with the dumb bandage around her head, but at least she sold the "injury" by not acting like her usual happy-go-lucky self. As I've mentioned before, I have no issue with Hart challenging Kris Statlander for the AEW TBS Championship given that her last loss came at the hands of Statlander almost a year and a half ago, but AEW should've put in the effort to building up Hart on television with wins a while ago, not to mention that it doesn't feel like a pay-per-view match. In Hart's defense, she was impressive here and they had a decent outing. On a side note, it's amazing how Nightingale already feels like an afterthought despite winning the women's Owen Hart Cup a few months ago.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland Signed the Contract for Their Match at WrestleDream

It was cool that AEW gave these two the main event spot considering their match at WrestleDream doesn't have anything at stake and isn't the culmination of a long-running rivalry. Strickland seemed to stumble on the mic once or twice, but otherwise, this was a quality contract signing and I appreciated Page getting fired up. He's been a background player since the Elite reunion, but this has given him good direction. Same can be said for Strickland, who should have a sustained singles push regardless of whether he wins or loses this weekend.

Overall Show

I applaud AEW for putting together a strong lineup for WrestleDream on paper and not waiting until the last minute to confirm a majority of the card. I'm excited for the event. With all of that said, this wasn't a great go-home show. The emphasis on all of the talking was refreshing, including the pre-taped sit-down interview Jim Ross conducted with Darby Allin and Christian Cage. However, although the two hours were entertaining on the whole, they didn't feel overly important aside from that MJF/Cole/White segment in the middle. The audio issues absolutely need to be addressed, by the way. It's inexcusable by this point.

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