AEW Dynamite: Wild Card Wednesday Review - May 18, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe def. Johnny Elite in a Men's Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal Match (Non-Title)

It was great to see the former John Morrison back on a big stage. His firing from WWE was beyond puzzling to me, as I felt he had a lot more to offer there following his split from The Miz. As of this writing, I haven't seen an "All Elite" graphic online, so we'll see if his signing is made official soon or if this was just a one-off (which is also entirely possible). Either way, this was an enjoyable opener. Best Friends made the save for Joe afterward when Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh attempted to attack him.

AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page def. Konosuke Takeshita (Non-Title)

It's rare that we get Page in action on Dynamite, which may be part of the reason why he hasn't felt like much of a focal point lately as world champion. Of course, there was never any doubt who was going over, but I thought Takeshita had an impressive performance in defeat and it didn't bother me he was made to look competitive against Page. Page winning with CM Punk's GTS was a nice touch.

Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland def. The Workhorsemen

JD Drake and Anthony Henry have been featured as The Workhorsemen on Dynamite before and they just appeared on Tuesday's Dark in a losing effort against Bear Country. They're a talented team, but Lee and Strickland needed to win quickly and decisively and I'm happy they did, especially since we found out afterward that they'll be challenging for the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a three-way tag team match at Double or Nothing. The post-match verbal exchange was entertaining, but we really need another three-way tag on pay-per-view after just getting one at Revolution?

MJF and Shawn Spears Attacked Wardlow

This feud between MJF and Wardlow has been the best thing going heading into Double or Nothing and it's not even close. Both MJF and Wardlow have played their roles remarkably well and every segment of theirs has felt must-see. Hell, even Spears has been perfect as MJF's right-hand man acting more badass than he actually is. Wardlow completely no-sold the early belt lashes to get into MJF's head, so MJF retaliated by hitting him with a low blow and whipping him some more. This was excellently executed. Granted, there's no uncertainty surrounding the outcome of next week's Steel Cage match between Wardlow and Spears, but oh well.

Kyle O'Reilly def. Rey Fenix in a Men's Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal Match

This was quite the styles clash on paper, but I was looking forward to it because I knew they'd deliver. Sure enough, they did. This was a ton of fun and featured plenty of exciting spots. In other words, it was your average Rey Fenix match, so if that's not your thing, then this probably wasn't for you. Fenix and the rest of Death Triangle are busy with House of Black at the moment, so O'Reilly advancing had to happen.

Blackpool Combat Club, Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz Exchanged Words with Jericho Appreciation Society

William Regal and Chris Jericho are both masters of the mic, so I was excited to see what they could come up with. Unfortunately, Jericho took all the obvious shots you'd expect him take, and while Regal's rebuttal got a bit juvenile at certain points, I found it funny, so I'm not complaining. I nearly changed the channel when Jericho mentioned the possibility of the two groups having a Stadium Stampede match, but Jon Moxley almost immediately shut that down. Thank the lord. Instead, it sounds like they'll be having some sort of all-out hardcore brawl. Perhaps they're saving Blood and Guts for the rematch or for another feud.

Britt Baker def. Maki Itoh in a Women's Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal Match

​Itoh was the big mystery joker entrant for the women's Owen Hart Cup. Johnny Elite was a worthy surprise earlier in the evening in my opinion, but Itoh definitely a disappointment for me. I understand her appeal for some, but I wasn't a fan when she was first brought in last year and I find the whole gimmick to be dumb, personally. I feel like Itoh would have been better off being advertised in advance for one of the qualifiers like Yuka Sakazaki was. This match wasn't for me as I thought the focus on the shenanigans was silly, but at least Baker advanced as she should have.

Serena Deeb Interrupted Tony Schiavone and Attacked AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa and Dustin Rhodes

I saw a lot of mixed opinions about this segment online, but I actually really liked it. We barely hear from Deeb on the mic, so I appreciated that she got as much mic time as she did here and I thought she cut a hell of a promo, ripping into Rhodes and addressing Rosa. This was well done with Deeb slapping Rhodes and leaving Rosa laying. I always complain about the women being short on time, so this was a nice change of pace and an effective way to put heat on the championship clash at Double or Nothing.

Adam Cole def. Jeff Hardy in a Men's Owen Hart Cup Semifinal Match

Man, talk about a rushed mess. This literally started with approximately 10 minutes left in the show and then they cut to a commercial soon after. Seriously, is their timing with these shows that bad? They made the most of the time they add, but this was almost a nothing match because it was so short. I assume the post-match angle sets up Darby Allin, Sting and The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks and reDRagon (no, O'Reilly is not making it to the finals of the men's Owen Hart Cup) for the pay-per-view. I thought we might be getting The Hardys against Allin and Sting, but that makes more sense given what has been teased lately.

Overall Show

If you had high hopes for the joker entrants in the Owen Hart Cups, then you were probably underwhelmed on the whole. Last week's show was significantly stronger and the rushed nature of this episode didn't help. They really need to stop cramming so much into the two hours and allowing stuff to breathe a bit more. Also, is it not odd that we're just over a week away from Double or Nothing and almost half of the card is still unknown? That's just poor planning. I'm excited for the pay-per-view, but they could benefit from a hot go-home show next week in Las Vegas on the exact three-year anniversary of the inaugural Double or Nothing event.

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