AEW Dynamite Recap, Grades, & Opinion: August 5, 2020

AEW Dynamite Recap: August 5, 2020

A.K.A The One Where Orange Cassidy Saves The World

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite is stacked with great content this week, headlined by an AEW Championship match between Jon Moxley and Darby Allin. Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy had themselves a debate with a surprise moderator and MJF had an update about All Out. Other matches advertised on the card include Matt Cardona and Cody teaming up against John Silver and Alex Reynolds of the Dark Order and Brodie Lee joins the rest of his Dark Order cronies (and Colt Cabana) to take on Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks and FTR in a massive 12-man tag match. Here’s how it all shook out.

Results:

Dark Order def. Hangman & Omega, Young Bucks & FTR
Best Friends def. Santana & Ortiz
Cody & Matt Cardona def. Alex Reynolds & John Silver
Big Swole def. Reba
Jon Moxley def. Darby Allin

Match of the Night: Dark Order def. Hangman & Omega, Young Bucks & FTR

What?! Match of the night wasn’t the main event?!

The main event title match gave this a run for its money, but these teams went out there and stole the show.

The match started the second Dynamite went on air and I like it that way. Brodie Lee started the match with Nick Jackson and almost immediately Nick Jackson turned up the pace on the match. Mr. Lee didn’t like that the Bucks were showing him up so he tagged in nine, who was just mauled and stuck in a cycle of tags against the three babyface teams.

The Dark Order was able to finally get their footing when Colt Cabana broke up Omega’s pin and Omega was incensed and ran around chasing him, only to eat a Superkick from Lee. The group then cut the ring off and isolated Omega on their side, tagging in and out to punish the champion. That is, until Five came in and took a Tilt-A-Whirl backbreaker from Omega and allowed the babyfaces to put him in the cycle now.

There was an interesting moment in the match where both members of FTR and Hangman went for tandem Figure Four Leg Locks and were pushed into each other, resulting in a near fall. It was a subtle tease to continue that storyline.

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At one point, Dax Harwood seemed to injure his knee and Cash Wheeler and Hangman walked out of the match with him and the doctors, leaving Omega and the Bucks. The Dark Order took advantage of the circumstances and punished Matt Jackson, who was isolated by the group.

Jackson fought his way out, but the Dark Order took out him teammates, so he wasn’t able to make a tag. That is, until Hangman came back out and took out absolutely everyone. Right when he had Five down for the count, he demanded that Lee come into the ring. Lee did, but used his numbers advantage to beat down Hangman. The Dark Order had Hangman down until Omega broke the pin. He paid for that. The Bucks caught a second wind and started Superkicking everyone in sight. When every member of the Dark Order except Lee was dumped out, Omega held him so Hangman could hit his Buckshot Lariat. Lee moved out of the way and Hangman almost took out Omega. The Elite were all pulled out of the ring and Lee caught the rebounding Hangman with a vicious Discus Lariat for the win.

Coming out of the match, the storyline with Hangman and FTR furthered, the rift between Hangman and the Elite was furthered, the BTE storyline between Cabana and Omega was furthered and Lee might’ve just staked his claim at the Tag Team Titles. An excellent way to start off Dynamite.

Three Thoughts:

An Exciting Debut

Matt Cardona came out for his in-ring debut with Cody against John Silver and Alex Reynolds. I will say, I like his theme song.

Cody started the match against Silver, who is my favorite part of BTE each week. Silver was dominated from the jump, eating a long vertical suplex from Cody before being the recipient of a small burst from Cardona. Silver was able to stun Cardona enough to bring in Reynolds, but that didn’t go well for him. Cardona was all over him immediately and tagged in Cody. Reynolds distracted the ref so that Silver could do some damage to Cody on the apron. From there, the duo picked the champion apart.

Cody was isolated for like a solid seven minutes or so before he hulked up and took out Silver with a snap powerslam after eating a ton of kicks. Silver tagged in Reynolds, but Cardona got the hot tag and came in like a house of fire. It was a pretty good hot tag. Cardona hit a double underhook powerbomb for a near fall. When Silver and Reynolds got their advantage, the duo hit a really good sequence of tandem offense for a near fall. Things broke down a bit, but Cardona was able to catch Reynolds with Radio Silence (the new name for the Rough Ryder) for the win.

After the match, Scorpio Sky met Cody at the entrance tunnel and eyed the TNT Title. The tease for a potential match between those two became a reality when it was announced that they would face off for the title next week. The match comes a day after Sky cut a hellacious promo on AEW Dark about being underutilized.

SOCIAL EXCLUSIVE@TheMattCardona gives his thoughts on his AEW in-ring debut and where he sees himself in the future.

Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/6aRTlJIHxb

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 6, 2020

The Great Debate

The AEW Super Wednesday Debate 2020 came on and the special moderator was Eric Bischoff, proving the reports correct. Orange Cassidy came out first and gave Bischoff, whose desk was at the entrance ramp, a very weak handshake before getting in the ring. Jericho then came out in an all-black suit with Hager, who was holding the orange-stained suit.

The first question asked was “Why do Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy hate each other so much?” Jericho responded first by trashing Cassidy’s wardrobe. He went on to say that he hates, no, despises Cassidy because he doesn’t take anything seriously. He unleashed more insults after. Cassidy did not respond.

The second question was “Who is the better wrestler and who is the bigger star?” Jericho said that he’s held 50 titles around the world and Cassidy hasn’t even left the state of Florida. He insulted him with high school stuff, his wardrobe and something about alcohol. Yet another no response from Cassidy.

The third question was “Global sea levels have been rising for centuries. What are your thoughts on this?” Jericho wanted a different question. Cassidy gave a very good response about global warming and its effect on the world that stunned Bischoff and the entire arena.

Well, we weren’t expecting that from @orangecassidy. The more you know.

Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/Z1aUNtMUVB

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 6, 2020

The fourth question was “Why is Orange Cassidy so popular?” I don’t remember much of what Jericho said, but he said “you’re a pimple on the ass of pro wrestling. And next week, I’m going to pop you.” Cassidy had no response.

The last question was “Why does this rematch mean so much to both of you?” Jericho went to respond, but Cassidy cut him off and told him to shut up. He said that Jericho set this all up to embarrass him because he doesn’t talk. Cassidy said that the match was the biggest of his life and said that it was the biggest of Jericho’s too because what if Chris Jericho, with all of his accomplishments, loses to the guy who puts his hands in his pockets. He then took off his glasses and told Jericho to look him in the eyes because he’s the man that’s going to beat him and is going to embarrass him.

Bischoff declared Cassidy the winner because of the global warming answer. Jericho was sent into a rage and had Hager beat the crap out of Cassidy.

Safe to say, this segment worked. I’m 100 percent invested in this match next week.

An Exciting Title Match

Darby Allin came out first with a cut-up picture of Moxley on his face. It was… interesting.

Moxley came out through the concourse like he always does and it will never be wasted on me how much of a badass he looks like when he comes out. The guy is absolutely a star.

The bell sounded and Allin did not move. He still had the picture and his jacket on. Moxley tore the picture off and received a loud smack from Allin for his troubles. The champ then decked him, causing Allin to bleed from his mouth already.

Moxley used his strength advantage and went on top by just slamming Allin. It wouldn’t last super long though, as Allin used his speed and unorthodox offense to get on top of Moxley for like 20 seconds before Moxley threw him off the ramp and into the ring post. You read that correctly. It made a vicious thud.

.@JonMoxley just throws @DarbyAllin off the stage and into the ring post!

Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/yurc1V227a

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 6, 2020

Allin was fine, for the most part, and continued the match. Moxley obviously was still on top and when the commercial break ended, he was choking the life out of Allin. The champ was very conflicted throughout the match because he likes Allin and really doesn’t want to hurt him. He yelled at Allin, who baited him in and stunned him with the ropes. Allin then tackled him through the ropes and out of the ring before laying in punches. Allin placed Moxley’s hand on top of the ring post and stepped on it, then pushed him off and dove onto him. He then countered a German Suplex and a Paradigm Shift and hit a Code Red for a very close near fall.

Allin went to the top rope, but Moxley slammed him down. As the two were staggered, Wardlow came out and distracted the ref. With the distraction, MJF came out and blasted Moxley with the AEW Title, busting him open. Allin was late to react, conflicted about what happened, but hit a Coffin Drop for a VERY close near fall.

Allin did everything he could to keep Moxley down, but his second Coffin Drop attempt was turned into a Rear Naked Choke and Allin fought and fought, teasing passing out, so Moxley turned it into a Gotch-Style Piledriver that Allin kicked out of. Moxley then hit a Paradigm Shift to end the match.

After the match, Moxley hugged Allin and gave him words of encouragement. It cut to MJF and Wardlow in the back, who were pissed at the outcome. MJF really wanted to face Allin at All Out.

Grade: B+

This was a very good episode of Dynamite. Again, I’m trying to be more critical with the grades I give out, but this show earned that B+. The matches were all good, great or excellent and the opening tag match was fantastic. Best Friends and Santana & Ortiz had themselves a very good match that just didn’t make the cut for me, but deserves praise. Big Swole won a shot to face Britt Baker by defeating Reba, which was more entertaining good than technically good. Overall, I thought the show was well worth the two-hour investment to watch and I’m very happy with how AEW is slowly building storylines and getting people invested in them. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, especially the debate segment. Class dismissed.

One More Thing:

MJF had a backstage video package from his campaign headquarters. He accosted one of his employees for not putting a poster up evenly leveled. MJF forced his secretary to smile as she said that he was leading in polls (the polls aren’t real). He said that Tony Khan sanctioned his match for All Out and that he’s taking the title from Moxley because we deserve better. At the end, the cameraman asked what if Allin beat Moxley for the title. MJF responded with a heavily sarcastic, “Oh, the 125 pound Emo kid? Yeah, it would suck to face him.”

Give him the belt.

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE@The_MJF gives us a personal tour of his headquarters and gives a 'peep' talk to his team.

Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/3m7Pb1NvW0

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 6, 2020

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.