AEW Dynamite Recap: July 29, 2020

A.K.A The One Where We Finally Get To See Warhorse

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite is stacked with great content this week, headlined by two title matches with Cody defending the TNT Championship against Warhorse and Kenny Omega and Hangman Page defending the AEW Tag Team Championships against Evil Uno and Stu Grayson of the Dark Order. Rounding out the rest of the card was an exciting 10-man tag match between the Inner Circle against Best Friends, Orange Cassidy and Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus of Jungle Express, a tag match where AEW Champion Jon Moxley teams with Darby Allin to take on the newly aligned duo of Brian Cage and Ricky Starks and AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida faced Diamante in a non-title match. The show also featured a “State of the Industry Address” by MJF. Here’s how it all shook out.

Results:

  • Best Friends, Orange Cassidy &  Jurassic Express def. Inner Circle
  • Cody def. Warhorse
  • Hangman Page & Kenny Omega def. Evil Uno & Stu Grayson
  • Hikaru Shida def. Diamante
  • Jon Moxley & Darby Allin def. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks

Match of the Night: Jon Moxley & Darby Allin def. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks

This match went from a normal tag match to a No Disqualification Tornado Tag Match at the beginning of the show. My interest was immediately piqued. Jon Moxley and Darby Allin in a No DQ match is a terrifying thought.

Before I get into the match, MJF came out for a State of the Industry Address. He called out Moxley and stated that he has been failing as champion. It was an incredible promo by MJF and what made it so great was that everything he said was true, but he’s a terrific heel and made it so easy for people to boo him. All signs point to these two going at it for the title at All Out and I am VERY excited about it.

Now let’s talk about the fact that Allin didn’t come out during his entrance because of the assault he took last week. This was even more enforced when Taz and Starks cut promos hyping themselves up even more. OH WAIT THERE IS DARBY COFFIN DROPPING FROM THE TOP OF THE SET!

The action started from there and never really stopped. Allin and Moxley immediately started diving on everything and when a trash can was introduced, Cage smashed it on Moxley’s back. The heels both isolated Moxley and doubled him until Allin came in, knocked Cage out of the ring and started hurting Starks.

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The heels were able to gain the advantage when Cage caught Moxley of a crossbody and then didn’t budge when Allin jumped on him in the hurricanrana position, allowing Cage to hit a tandem powerbomb/powerslam combo. The entire match was just the babyfaces fighting for dear life and Cage going big man. When Cage nearly decapitated Moxley with a spinning lariat, he went for a second and ate a piledriver instead.

In the closing minutes of the match, Moxley and Allin hit a combo Paradigm Shift/Coffin Drop for a near fall. This set up the finish somewhat, which was Allin getting his skateboard from underneath the ring, which had thumbtacks on the bottom instead of wheels. Cage was held down by an armbar from Moxley and Allin hit a dive to Starks’ back with the tacks for the win.

After the match, Allin locked eyes with Moxley and then stared at the title. It was then announced that Moxley would defend the AEW Championship against Allin next week.

Three Thoughts:

A Big Start to Dynamite

The opening match of the show was the 10-man tag. Jericho came out with his orange juice stained jacket and I respect the commitment to the bit. This match was also Sammy Guevara’s first match back on Dynamite since his suspension.

Jericho teased starting the match with Orange Cassidy, but quickly tagged in Jake Hager. Cassidy did his little spot with the kicks and pissed off Hager, leading to the big man picking him up, which Cassidy rewarded by clapping his hands on Hager’s ears. Things broke down shortly after and everyone started brawling. It was at this point that the babyfaces took turns diving on the heels, culminating with Luchasaurus, which Marko Stunt on his back, diving on everyone. Then, Guevara was caught in the middle of the ring surrounded by the babyfaces and was brutalized in the corner by each of them, one-by-one.

Jericho got back involved and isolated Trent. The Inner Circle then tagged each other in and out while laying a beating on Trent. After a few minutes of abuse, Trent managed to tag in Luchasaurus and he ran roughshod on the entire Inner Circle until coming face-to-face with Hager. The two hosses traded blows, Luchasaurus losing his mask a couple of times during the exchange. 

The final stretch of the match saw the babyfaces and heels trading finishers back and forth until it was just Luchasaurus and Guevara. Guevara had the dinosaur in prime position when Matt Hardy’s music started playing and while everyone was distracted, the veteran appeared and knocked Guevara off the top rope and right into a Chokeslam from Luchasaurus. The big man followed that with a spin kick and a pin to give the babyfaces the win.

Wait Is That Ultimate Warrior?

Cody came out to defend his TNT Championship against Warhorse. Warhorse, who I know nothing about, came out looking like an Ultimate Warrior rip-off. He was announced as “4,000 pounds of heavy metal rock and roll” and some more that escaped me, but I popped for it. It certainly has an interesting matchup.

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In the early going, Warhorse was forced to break a hold and tapped Cody on the back. When Cody was forced to do the same, he made like he was going to hit his challenger, but turned it into a couple of taps to the chest. Warhorse didn’t like that, and chopped the heck out of Cody’s back.

Cody struggled to figure out Warhorse, which makes sense considering he isn’t the most high profile of indie names. Warhorse is all about high energy, high impact moves. He really does wrestle like Ultimate Warrior if he lost about 100 pounds of muscle. Whenever Cody would try to grind him down, he’d bounce back with a running clothesline or some punches. That is, until Cody started working the leg.

The champ was grinding down his challenger slowly, but his cockiness was his downfall. Warhorse was able to get on top and started chopping, clotheslining and diving all over the place. He eventually hit a nice Elbow Drop off the top rope for a very close near fall. When Warhorse couldn’t put down the champion, he switched gears to try to get quick pins to win the title. Eventually, however, he tweaked his leg jumping off the top rope and Cody pounced. The champion locked in a Figure Four Leg Lock for the win.

After the match, two Dark Order cronies came out and attacked Cody and Warhorse, leading to the debut of Matt Cardona, who ran off the two heels and checked on his long-time friend Cody. It was a pretty uneventful debut if I’m being honest.

Will the Tag Titles Join the Dark Order?

The tag champions came out to face Evil Uno and Stu Grayson for the titles. Immediately, the tension between Omega and Page was felt. It was even more interesting when the bell sounded and Uno and Grayson started mobbing Omega. The challengers hit a couple of tandem moves on Omega, but he was eventually able to fight his way out and tag in Page to get on top.

Colt Cabana was on commentary and flocked by Brodie Lee and new Dark Order member Anna Jay. He praised the work of the group, but did not say that he had joined them. After some good tandem work, Page was isolated by the Dark Order duo, who did a good job of wearing him down and also preventing him from getting a tag when he’d have bursts of fight.

After about five or so minutes, Page managed to get the tag, but it wasn’t a very effective hot tag. Omega tossed Grayson out of the ring, which surprised him, and Uno hit a spinning senton for a near fall. Grayson got back into the fold and there were a lot of near falls, but when Page finally got his fight back, it was all downhill for the Dark Order. Hangman and Omega hit their combo Buckshot Lariat and V-Trigger for the win.

After the match, Lee got on the mic and called out Page. He said that he saw that he had his friends in the crowd, which was the Young Bucks, but that the Dark Order had a lot of members. He sarcastically thanked Omega for showing up and just as the Dark Order members crowded the outside of the ring, FTR came down and hit Lee with a cooler and helped the Elite and Page clear out the cronies.

Grade: B

This was a good episode of Dynamite. I’ve been giving out some very generous grades lately and it’s about time I start getting more realistic. This show had a lot of good, not great matches and the women’s match was pretty awkward and disappointing. The main event was a fun car crash match, but didn’t reach the final level it needed to be really special. Ultimately, this was a show used to build future programs, which isn’t a bad thing. MJF cut one of the best promos of the year and set up a program between him and Moxley for the championship. Ultimately, it was a good episode. Nothing special, but good. Class dismissed.

One More Thing:

There was a segment where FTR sat down with Tony Schiavone to finally sign their AEW contracts. They brought out their lawyer and then a “tag team advisor”, who turned out to be Arn Anderson. Anderson ran down some of the things the teams wanted during their matches and a “Tag Team Appreciation Day” which is scheduled for the August 12th episode of Dynamite. After that, Hangman Page came out and interrupted, asking if they were done so they could have a drink. It was an interesting wrinkle that furthered the story between FTR and Page and the mix of Anderson could point to things down the road.

Last Thing I Swear:

Schiavone came out and announced All Out for Saturday, September 5th. Jericho came out with the Inner Circle to announce that his rematch with Orange Cassidy will be in two weeks on Dynamite.

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.

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