AEW Dynamite Review - September 6, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW International Champion Jon Moxley def. AR Fox

This was billed as an open challenge. Orange Cassidy thrived with that gimmick as champion, but I don't need to see Moxley adopt it. Obviously, I'm not saying he shouldn't defend it, but he doesn't need to do so weekly or as frequently. That said, this was a quality contest. Fox scored enough offense to where this wasn't a squash, but Moxley went over decisively in the end. Darby Allin came out to check on Fox afterward, leading to Christian Cage confronting Nick Wayne backstage. Cage continues to be a riot with his current character.

AEW TBS Champion Kris Statlander def. Emi Sakura

This was another open challenge. Putting them back to back wasn't ideal, but that's just nitpicking. It would've made more sense for Sakura to face Saraya given Saraya came out to Queen at All In and that's pretty much Sakura's gimmick, but I can't complain about getting a short-and-sweet match from these two that keeps Statlander rolling as TBS champ. I'm honestly surprised Jade Cargill hasn't returned yet to confront her.

Le Sex Gods def. Aussie Open

There's such bad blood between Aussie Open and Chris Jericho that he invited them onto his podcast last week! Okay, I kid (even though he legitimately did), but the timing is funny. The match itself was well wrestled and I'm glad it got some time before Aussie Open lost, but if Jericho and Guevara were argue afterward regardless, why not give Aussie Open the win? I assume Le Sex Gods will keep winning before unsuccessfully challenging for the AEW World Tag Team Championship and then splitting.

ROH World Tag Team Champion Adam Cole Saved AEW World Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF From ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe

I've been looking forward to MJF and Joe facing off since they brawled at All Out on Sunday and their war of words delivered. MJF's fat jokes toward Joe quickly got old, but he took his promo up a notch when he started telling the story of when Joe shoved him backstage when MJF worked as a security guard for him back at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II in 2016. Joe was amazing as always. If Joe doesn't win this number one contender's tournament, then he has to get the shot at WrestleDream.

Roderick Strong def. Trent Beretta in a Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Tournaments are done to death in AEW, but at least this one will be wrapping up by next week. Aside from Joe, Strong is the only other person who makes sense to win the whole thing considering his ongoing storyline with MJF and Cole. Beretta being involved was fine because, as was mentioned on commentary, he won that three-way match on the 200th episode of Dynamite last month, but he had no chance of winning here. He and Strong had a solid match and Strong putting his neck brace back on afterward was hilarious.

Mogul Embassy Attacked "Hangman" Adam Page

Page hasn't been involved in much of note in a while, especially on his own, so I'm a big fan of his newfound feud with Strickland. Strickland did a majority of the talking and knocked it out of the park. He's terrific. I assume he's losing this feud like he did the one with Darby Allin, but I'm just happy the guy's getting consistent television time. Page vs. Brian Cage next week should also be fun given their chemistry from 2021.

Darby Allin def. Nick Wayne in a Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinal Match

These two were bound to face off eventually (Wayne wasn't happy with the way Allin easily forgave Fox), but I don't think it needed to happen in the first round of this tourney. From a storyline standpoint, Wayne did nothing to deserve a spot in it over others on the roster. Nonetheless, they had a nice main event, enhanced by Christian's commentary. With WrestleDream emanating from Seattle, it looks like we're headed for Luchasaurus defending the AEW TNT Championship against Allin and Wayne (and possibly Christian).

Overall Show

The pacing of this show was a lot less chaotic than usual and felt like more like an edition of Collision. We'll see if that sticks, but it was refreshing for this one week. The Grand Slam tournament getting underway was notable and I thoroughly enjoyed the exchanges between MJF and Joe as well as Page and Strickland. It was a little light on star power, but this was still a thumbs-up episode on the whole.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews