It’s AEW Dynamite. You know what that means.
Using old Jack TV catchphrases in my review, apparently.
There were a lot of cool things that happened in this stick of Dynamite. Babyface Dark Order got to shine in a losing effort against The Young Bucks and The Good Brothers, Red Velvet got to cut the promo of her life as she partakes in the biggest match of her life at March's Revolution pay-per-view alongside Cody, and Chris Jericho proved to everyone that his botch last week was a fluke by nailing a pitch-perfect Lionsault in his tag team match against The Varsity Blondes for the win.
Damn @IAmJericho is just brutal #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/Tvbd9mG66t
— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) January 28, 2021
All of those moments were cool but none of them were as exciting, or as star-making as Jungle Boy making Dax Harwood tap out in the middle of that ring and looking damn good while doing it.
If you only need to watch one match from this week’s Dynamite, it's Jungle Boy vs. Dax Harwood. This was a match that many thought would be good when it was announced, and it somehow still blew all of those expectations away. Maybe it’s because this match wasn’t super spot-heavy when compared to most AEW matches, or the fact that these are two tag team guys we rarely see in singles action, but this was the highlight of Dynamite, hands-down.
We all know Jungle Boy is good but Dax “The Ax” Harwood deserves a lot of credit, too. Dax worked very good as a heel here, with the usually grumpy Jim Ross even bringing up some comparisons to Cody Rhodes’ coach Arn Anderson, so he deserves a lot of credit for making the Jurassic Express member look like a star here. He also loses nothing by tapping out since he and Cash Wheeler are more considered as tag team guys anyway.
Now, I did consider docking some points since FTR got their heat back by beating up Jungle Boy and cutting off Luchasaurus' horns; but Marko Stunt chased them off with the help of SCU and Top Flight, so I'll let it slide. Babyfaces having friends help them out is always a positive in my book.
One match does not a Dynamite make so you’ll be happy to know that most of the episode was very solid as well. Eddie Kingston cheated to beat Lance Archer in a really fun match, where The Murderhawk Monster was having way too much fun beating him up. Matt Hardy offering Hangman Page friendship was fun since we all know he treats Private Party like shit. And Jon Moxley got to joke about AEW’s convoluted Death Triangle/Kingston’s family breakup.
We also got to see The Young Bucks team up with The Good Brothers after years of them being apart! How cool was that bukkake-style superkick tandem?
.@youngbucks, @MachineGunKA and @The_BigLG... for old time's sake! #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/yB4bm0sVhu
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) January 28, 2021
Not as cool as this sequence from The Dark Order, admittedly.
Phenomenal teamwork from @SilverNumber1, @YTAlexReynolds, @EvilUno and @stu_dos! #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/Y6t42lrS3r
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) January 28, 2021
This was a thumbs-up show, even with meh bits like Darby Allin and Sting breaking windows because “they are hooligans” and the wedding of Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford getting a lackluster hype video. Dynamite won’t blow you away this week, but at least it doesn’t insult your intelligence.
Final Grade: B+
Bullet Point Party:
- Watch Eddie Kingston vs Lance Archer in its entirety on YouTube: Kudos to Tony Khan and AEW for putting the complete Lance Archer/Eddie Kingston match on YouTube after TNT and Fite TV had issues airing it.
- Dolph Ziggler is a better wrestler than his brother: Ryan Nemeth’s match with Hangman Page wasn’t horrible but his offense was a worse version of 2010 Ziggler, right down to the headstands during submissions and booty shakes.
- Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. beat Shanna in a fine match: Britt continues to look good in matches and Shanna is a pretty good worker. Really looking forward to Baker vs. Thunder Rosa in next week’s Beach Break.
- The Young Bucks tease choosing The Good Brothers as their Revolution opponents: Wouldn’t it be fun if they chose The Motor City Machine Guns as a swerve?
- Cody Rhodes will team with Red Velvet against Shaq and Jade Cargill in AEW Revolution: Eh, it is what it is. Red Velvet’s promo was good but I just want Cody to move on from this and get involved in a better rivalry.
*****
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