Pantoja’s AEW Dynamite Review 11.17.21

AEW Dynamite

November 17th, 2021 | Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia

It’s the Full Gear fallout episode!

We went backstage immediately to a somber Elite. Kenny Omega said they lost the night, he’s disgusted, and congratulations to Hangman Page. He needs to fix and change things that he can’t do here. He wanted them to hold down the fort while he’s away. Adam Cole hilariously mocked the infamous “CLEANER, I GOT THIS” tweet and I lost my shit. Kenny said he was talking to the Bucks, adding to their awkward issues but the Bucks and Cole shrugged this off and said they’d handle things.

The Dark Order introduced Hangman Page in his home state, who came out as the AEW Champion for the first time. Huge pop for him and “you earned it” chants. He said he’s not one to brag but as champion, he might as well flap his gums a bit. It is National Cowboy Shit day, after all. As soon as the name of the number one contender was brought up, Bryan Danielson chose to interrupt. He congratulated Hangman but said he was disappointed and surprised that he’s not facing Kenny Omega, so Hangman said that’s because he beat Kenny in less than 30 minutes. OH DAMN. Danielson said he’d wrestle him tonight but Hangman is just out here to talk. He mentioned wrestling the night after winning the World Title at WrestleMania and that got booed, so he said “of course, Virginia boos hard work.” My god, are we getting ROH style heel Danielson? Hangman offered a fight but Danielson said Hangman is someone with a lot of excuses so he doesn’t want Page to have yet another when he loses. Hangman offered up a fight instead but Dark Order kept things split. Great opening segment that didn’t go too long, added so much tension to the upcoming title match, and Danielson as a tweener/heel is always great.

Bryan Danielson vs. Evil Uno

Since both men were already in the ring, we didn’t get their records to appear on screen. Danielson was cocky throughout, doing some showboating and not taking Evil Uno seriously. Uno got frustrated with that and fired up, causing Danielson to regroup in the corner. His chest got lit up as always but Danielson still laid into him with dropkicks and other offense. It’s great to hear how the crowd response changed for Danielson after just one promo. He hit the Busaiku Knee, added the head stomps, and immediately won with the triangle sleeper, complete with Danielson flexing while doing it. The whole thing went 6:24 and was PERFECTLY booked. Danielson was an asshole throughout, Uno got in a few hope spots, and it was quick. [***]

Tony Schiavone interviewed Bryan in the ring who said he’d go through every Dark Order member before Hangman. Next week, the show is in Chicago and he’ll kick Colt Cabana’s head in, right in his hometown.

MJF had a promo after his match at the PPV and he said it’s not paint he’s covered in but it’s actually Darby’s shame. He’s sick of hearing how great the wrestlers in AEW are while people say he can only talk. He proved them wrong. MJF has a bad knee but said he’s the best and nobody can do anything about it. One of the better MJF promos. I’ve said that I don’t think he’s special on the mic but this worked because it was passionate and most importantly, SHORT. He can really go when he’s not asked to spout stuff for 15-20 minutes.

Schiavone went to speak with Eddie Kingston who got interrupted quickly by 2.0 and Daniel Garcia. He ignored them as they talked about him coming up with excuses and 2.0 said Garcia lasted longer with CM Punk than Eddie. Kingston said he doesn’t respect Garcia for letting two grown men call him their sun. Eddie said he’ll fight Garcia and walked off.

The Butcher and The Blade (8-1 in 2021) vs. Orange Cassidy and Tomohiro Ishii (0-0)

The sight of Tomohiro Ishii walking out to Pixies has me smiling. He’s the new NEVER Openweight Champion after beating Jay White. Maybe I’ll review that show at some point. Ishii wanted Butcher early but beat up Blade instead and then OC came in with some of his signature stuff. I’d love this team consistently because they’re such opposites and that can work so well. OC ended up taking the heat through the break and when we returned, we got the Butcher/Ishii battle that everyone wanted. BIG MEATY MEN BUMPING MEAT. The Bunny got involved and handed Blade brass knuckles but Rocky Romero stopped him from using it. OC took out Matt and Blade with a dive before sending Blade in to fall to a lariat and Brainbuster in 11:24. A fun tag. [***]

FTR and Andrade were interviewed backstage. They, along with Malakai Black, challenged the Lucha Brothers, PAC, and Cody Rhodes to an eight man tag.

We heard from Tay Conti who said that she may have lost but she gained experienced. She’s not starting from scratch and next time she gets a title shot, she’s winning.

Britt Baker was interviewed and said she was tired of carrying this division so the focus is on Jamie Hayter, the first TBS Champion. Schiavone mentioned that she has to face Thunder Rosa next week and Britt said we don’t talk about her on DMD TV.

AEW TBS Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Hikaru Shida (51-10) vs. Nyla Rose (23-5 in 2021)

There’s a pretty lengthy history here considering Shida took the title from Nyla to start her reign. The story coming in besides that revolves around Shida’s injured leg, which Serena Deeb caused. Most of the match was centered around that as Rose used her size, some underhanded tactics, and that leg to gain the upper hand. Shida got going and even caused Vickie Guerrero to take a bump. You could tell that Shida couldn’t fully gain momentum as even her armbar attempt saw Rose powerbomb her way free. Shida got in some hope spots on flash pins but tapped when her spin kick got caught into a Stretch Muffler at the 10:59 mark. A very good match that told a sensible story. [***¼]

Malakai Black got promo time to say that he’ll turn the air Cody Rhodes breathes into toxic gas. Odd threat. He gonna beat him with a fart?

MJF came out for a promo and I groaned. I loved his earlier stuff but giving him another promo with more time could lead into the same problems as previous weeks. He talked about how nobody in the back was in his league and discussed his possible next challenger. CM Punk interrupted and the fans erupted. Punk came face to face with MJF, who introduced himself and offered a handshake. Punk said nothing, laughed, and walked away, showing MJF no respect. This could be good.

Darby Allin spoke with Tony Schiavone about new challenges, so the Gunn Club came up to him and basically accepted to be his next challenge.

The Elite, sick of Jurassic Express, are going to try and deal with them for good. They brought in Bobby Fish to help.

The Acclaimed (19-4 in 2021) vs. Dante Martin (29-13) and Lio Rush (1-0)

I love the Martin/Lio team. The Acclaimed’s rap was lame this week, especially since he called Lio and Dante virgins despite Lio having several children. The first half of this match was actually pretty simple, with neither team really standing out. However, after the break this picked up in a major way. Martin and Rush have potential to be the most exciting team in all of AEW and The Acclaimed played their part well here. It made for a frantic finish with missile dropkicks, tandem uranages, flying elbows, and more. Things wrapped up when a double jump moonsault by Martin set up the Lio Rush frog splash in 10:33. Another really good match on a really good show. [***¼]

Team Taz came out to offer Dante Martin a slot again and they said they’d be patient.

Jurassic Express accepted the Fish/Cole challenge. Jungle Boy shaved.

RAMPAGE!

· Bobby Fish and Adam Cole vs. Jurassic Express

· Billy Gunn vs. Darby Allin

· Jade Cargill vs. Red Velvet in the TBS Title Tournament Quarterfinals

DYNAMITE THANKSGIVING!

· Bryan Danielson vs. Colt Cabana

· Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter in the TBS Title Tournament Quarterfinals

· FTR, Andrade and Malakai Black vs. Cody Rhodes and Death Triangle

AEW TNT Championship: Sammy Guevara [c] (8-1) vs. Jay Lethal (0-0)

I will stand by my statement that the Lethal signing was a bad move for a multitude of reasons. Anyway, Tony Nese watched from the stands. Honestly, this was a good match that I couldn’t totally get into. They had some good back and forth and Sammy’s ribs came into play given what happened during the PPV. I’m surprised Lethal didn’t attack it more. There were some big moves here like a Brainbuster outside but it felt like it didn’t fully play into the match. It kind of felt like a cool spot for the sake of it. Down the stretch, Sammy survived the Figure Four and the abdominal stretch (RIB WORK!). He went for the GTH but Lethal escaped only to eat some knees and take the GTH anyway, ending this after 12:55. Another good match on this show. [***¼]