AEW Dynamite Recap, Grades, & Opinion: July 15, 2020

AEW Dynamite Recap: July 15, 2020

A.K.A The One Where It’s Fight For The Fallen

Here. We. Go. Fight For The Fallen returns again for an important cause and an exciting night of wrestling. With matches such as FTR vs. Lucha Bros, Cody defending his TNT Championship against Sonny Kiss and AEW Champion Jon Moxley finally able to get his hands on Brian Cage, the card is stacked. Other matches expected on the card are The Nightmare Sisters (Brandi and Allie) against mystery opponents, the Elite vs. Jurassic Express and an appearance by Chris Jericho. Here’s how it all shook out.

Results:

Cody def. Sonny Kiss
FTR def. Lucha Bros
The Elite def. Jurassic Express
The Nightmare Sisters def. jobbers
Jon Moxley def. Brian Cage

Match of the Night: The Elite def. Jurassic Express

In a backstage promo, Jungle Express, specifically Marko Stunt, laughed at Jericho getting orange juice dumped on him. Luchasaurus claimed that after 65 million years, he finally had the chance to go against the Elite. It has been a long time since the Elite has fought together and with Jericho on commentary, there are three different storylines intersecting with this match.

The match started with the most athletic pairing of Nick Jackson and Jungle Boy. The two had an engaging exchange and culminated in Nick attempting a facebuster from the outside and Jungle Boy saving himself and popping back up.

Then, we got the face-off of the century between Marko Stunt and Kenny Omega with a shirt on. Stunt managed to get some offense in and pissed Omega enough to force him to take his shirt off. Following an exciting sequence of cohesion by Jungle Express, Stunt was flossing on the outside and Nick kicked the head out of his head.

The two teams exchanged some great offense between the two teams and really showed that Jurassic Express was at the same level as the Elite. Luchasaurus was specially made to look good, taking on all three members of the Elite and kicking out of high-impact moves.

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The spot of the match came when Luchasaurus was on the ramp with Matt Jackson propped up on the top rope and Jungle Boy launched Stunt over onto Luchasaurus’ shoulders and hit a Canadian Destroyer for a near fall. After last week’s insane Canadian Destroyer to the outside during the eight-man tag match, I didn’t think they could ever top themselves, but here we are.

Stunt was left for dead with Omega and was set up for a One-Winged Angel, but countered it into a roll-up for a very close near fall. Omega then nearly decapitated him with a V-Trigger and finished him off with a One-Winged Angel.

After the match, Omega attacked Stunt before the Young Bucks jumped in to make the save. An interesting turn of events.

Also interesting was during the match when Hangman Page, who was shown in the back drinking, was then seen being joined by FTR. A pleasant little tease to further that story.

"What's sportsmanship?" – @KennyOmegamanX
Watch Fight for the Fallen NOW on @TNTDrama. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/n2sLpGuJUD

— ALL ELITE WRESTLING (@AEwrestling) July 16, 2020

Three Thoughts:

An Anticipated TNT Championship Bout

The build to the match between Cody and Kiss was interesting. Following some negative comments on social media, Cody came out in support of Kiss and fans backed the exciting budding star.

Cody started off the match with some fire and urgency. He laid on some stiff looking shots and hit a Disaster Kick. Following an awkward suplex to the outside, Kiss was able to get the upper hand and really caught Cody with some exciting offense, showcasing just what he can do. After a while, Arn Anderson pulled Cody to the side and had some words with his client.

Kiss missed a split-legged leg drop and Cody met that with a Kiss and a Cross Rhodes attempt, only for Kiss to reverse it into a Cross Rhodes of his own for a near fall. Sonny then hit a picture-perfect 450 Splash for another near fall. Kiss had Cody in a head scissors, but Cody reversed it by lawn darting him onto the ramp and then hitting an Alabama Slam onto the elevated ramp. When Cody went for the pin, his legs were under the ropes and after he adjusted, Kiss managed to put his foot on the rope.

Cody was frustrated all match. After that awkward exchange, he hit a Vertebreaker for a near fall and then a Superplex for another one. The turnbuckle was exposed and Kiss launched Cody into it. Following a flurry of exchanges between the two, Cody was able to hit a Cross Rhodes and pick up the win.

High Risk Meets Hard-Hitting

Pentagon doing his theatrics when taking off his glove was not met well by Dax Harwood, who chopped the heck out of him. Pentagon regained control and let off an exciting flurry that gave him and his brother the advantage. With Rey Fenix in the ring with Harwood, Harwood took advantage of his high-risk offense and FTR were ready to grind.

Unfortunately for FTR, they just weren’t prepared for the high IQ portion of Lucha Bros’ explosive offense, as Fenix and Pentagon were able to cut the ring on the two.

Harwood came back into the match with fire, taking out both Fenix and Pentagon and hitting some unique offense like a reverse powerbomb into the turnbuckle into a back suplex. However, the story of the match was the two teams trading control almost immediately.

The trading blows continued until Cash Wheeler with a Suicide Dive into a twisting DDT before being taken out by Fenix. Fenix had a short exchange with Harwood in the ring, but that was cut short when Harwood took off Fenix’s mask and rolled him up for the win. An excellent finish that showed off FTR’s “win at all cost” mentality and didn’t give us everything these two could do together for an inevitable match down the line.

After the match, the Young Bucks took out Butcher and Blade and gave FTR the key to their truck back. Kenny Omega came out with a cooler of beer as a peace offering to the duo. Wheeler and Harwood opened their beer and then dumped it on Omega’s head before walking off and driving away.

A peace offering maybe?
Watch Fight for the Fallen NOW on @TNTDrama. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/BcqwXM6G9y

— ALL ELITE WRESTLING (@AEwrestling) July 16, 2020

A Surprising AEW Championship Match

Before the match, Moxley cut a promo bringing up Taz’s assertion that he wouldn’t be able to hit the Paradigm Shift on Cage because he’s too jacked to get the move on. Moxley just said that he didn’t have to and brought up Cage’s recently repaired bicep, claiming that he’s going to tear it off again.

The match started off hot, with Cage attacking Moxley before he’s able to take his shirt off. Cage is able to ragdoll Moxley until Moxley is able to grab and start working Cage’s arm. Moxley is able to drive the arm into the ring post and then beats Cage throughout the arena, trapping his arm in a barricade and then kicking it through. Moxley then took the barricade and propped it against the ring, going for a Paradigm Shift before Cage was able to reverse it into a German Suplex onto the metal structure.

The story of the match was Moxley trying his best to get any advantage he can get while working the arm and Cage was just trying to use his power to wear down Moxley.Following a series of back and forth between the two, Moxley is able to hit a not fully locked in Paradigm Shift and Cage kicked out. Jericho pointed out that not even he kicked out of the move. Moxley followed the move with a Superplex into a pin and when Cage kicked out, he transitioned it into a Kimura Lock.

Cage was able to get some offense in, but Moxley countered a Drill Claw into a variety of holds on the arm. For about three to four minutes, Moxley switched through different holds on that arm until locking in a move that had the arm trapped completely and allowed Moxley to taunt Taz. Eventually, Taz couldn’t stand seeing his client in pain anymore and to avoid giving Moxley the satisfaction of a submission victory, he threw in the towel.

After the match, Cage drilled Moxley with the FTW title and started raining down blows. During the exchange, the lights went out. When they came back on, Darby Allin returned and was on the top rope. He flew down and hit Cage with his skateboard, sending Cage and Taz running.

.@DARBYALLIN IS BACK!
Rewatch Fight for the Fallen via the @TNTDrama app or https://t.co/oMK2C4Gtak for our International fans. #AEWonTNT #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/BImCqgs0jn

— ALL ELITE WRESTLING (@AEwrestling) July 16, 2020

Grade: A-

Overall, I thought Fight for the Fallen delivered. The TNT title match was good, FTR vs. Lucha Bros was very good and The Elite and Jurassic Express stole the show. Chris Jericho becoming the self-proclaimed “Demo God” and having orange juice dumped on him by Orange Cassidy was a fun segment.

While the Nyla Rose announcement of Vickie Guerrero as her manager didn’t excite me, it did provide some intrigue for Rose moving forward. The stuff with the Nightmare Sisters was forgettable, but existed. The main event was a good match, but it was going to take a lot to top the six-man tag from earlier and they just weren’t able to. Moxley retaining was the right call, but I would’ve preferred that they reached an extra gear, something they just weren’t able to do. Moving forward, things are shaping up in a nice way for the company. With no more special shows, I’m excited to see how they continue developing these storylines. Fight For The Fallen gets a stamp of approval from me. Class dismissed.

.@VickieGuerrero & @NylaRoseBeast has put the entire Women's division on notice!
Watch Fight for the Fallen NOW on @TNTDrama. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/AALHkp2RiH

— ALL ELITE WRESTLING (@AEwrestling) July 16, 2020

One More Thing:

Chris Jericho came out with an incredible look and a jug of orange juice in his hand. He preached about his win in the 18-49 demographic, an obvious shot at WWE. Jericho called himself the “Demo God” because of course he did. He then praised Orange Cassidy and claimed they had one of the best matches in AEW history. Jericho then teased a rematch between the two before nixing that and accosting Cassidy for blowing his shot. He took a drink for Cassidy and then poured on out for his dead career.

Cassidy then came out from the stands and just stood there. Jericho reiterated that they wouldn’t have another match together and told Cassidy to get out of the arena. When he refused, Jericho went off. Cassidy turned a thumbs up into a thumbs down and orange juice came pouring down on the Inner Circle. Jericho was pissed and began yelling at him and asking for a towel. When handed one, the towel had Cassidy’s face printed on it, further enraging Jericho.

All signs point to things not being over between these two and I’m happy to see it. They had an excellent match last week and the story is compelling enough to continue. Cassidy is being booked like a legit star and it is definitely paying off.

Javier Melo is a writer of Pro Wrestling for Full Press Coverage and co-host of the Crossbody of Work podcast. Follow Javier on Twitter @JMeloSports.