AEW Dynamite
May 1st, 2024
By: John Siino
Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Commentary: Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone
RESULTS:
*TNT Championship: Adam Copeland (c) over Buddy Matthews via pinfall at 21:01
*Samoa Joe over Isiah Kassidy via pinfall at 3:29 (Recommended)
*FTW Championship: Chris Jericho (c) over Katsuyori Shibata via pinfall at 15:26
*Claudio Castagnoli over Brian Cage via submission at 9:54 (Recommended)
*Serena Deeb over Mariah May by towel stoppage at 10:31 (Recommended)
Iron Clad Contracts
The show starts with Tony Khan in Jacksonville in his neck brace who said he will be covering the show live from the Jaguars office and he isn’t cleared to leave Jacksonville due to The Elite’s attack on him. He gets interrupted by The Young Bucks who are in Winnipeg in the production truck and say they lost connection to Tony. They talk about how they aren’t fired due to their iron-clad contracts with a founders clause, and they and their colleagues are probably not going anywhere. And if Tony Khan can’t physically be there, the EVPs will run the show and they are in charge. They go and run a new show open that just has highlights of the Young Bucks, Jack Perry & Kazuchika Okada.
Swerve’s Next Challenger Is…
The main show starts with AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana making their way to the ring. Swerve talks about the matches he’s had since being champion and stands by saying what The Elite did was a bitch move. Swerve calls out who his next challenger is, as we cut back to the Bucks who talk about the success getting to Swerve’s head and say they will fine him for using curse words. They talk about arranging the perfect opponent for him and talk about a Canadian they haven’t seen in a while, insituating Kenny Omega but it ends up being Christian Cage, who heads to the ring with the rest of The Patriarchy in Killswitch, Nick Wayne & Shayna Wayne. Christian goes to talk but ends up attacking Swerve with the microphone instead. Swerve starts fighting him off, but The Patriarchy gets involved and take out Nana as well. Christian hits Swerve with the killswitch right on top of his title before Nick Wayne takes out Nana with Wayne’s World.
Christian gets on the mic and says there’s something you should know about him and that is that he never forgets. He didn’t forget about Swerve breaking into Nick Wayne’s gym and leaving him in a pool of his own blood. Christian hasn’t forgotten about them at one time being a tag team at the biggest show in the history of this business, and Swerve lost and embarrassed him. Christian has been waiting for the right moment and there’s no better time than right now, as Swerve is the champion and he will make Swerve pay for those mistakes. He’s going to embarrass him the same way he got embarrassed and will make him a footnote in the history of AEW. Christian says he heard Swerve’s speech about his daughter feeling like she doesn’t even know her. When he’s finished with Swerve, his daughter won’t want to know him and she will have a father that she can be proud of for the rest of her life. Cage talks about the Colorado Avalanche walking into Winnipeg’s house and taking their dream, he will do the same at Double or Nothing and take the title from Swerve’s hands and the pain has just begun. Killswitch then goes and pulls out a piece of Swerve’s hair which prompts the Winnipeg crowd to chant ‘Eat it’.
Adam Copeland comes out for his TNT Championship Cope Open, but we hear the voice of Malakai Black who talks about Copeland expecting him, but he’d rather have him wait and play mental games with him before Buddy Matthews comes out to accept the challenge.
AEW TNT Championship: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Buddy Matthews
They start the match locking up before Buddy Matthews is able to take Adam Copeland down with a sidelock before Copeland headscissors his way out to put on a headlock of his own. Matthews sends Copeland to the outside and teases diving onto him, before Copeland re-enters and faces off with Matthews. Copeland then sends Matthews to the outside and meets him with a tope suicida himself as we go to picture-in-picture.
We return to see Copeland struggling to make his way back into the ring, and he gets some help as Matthews brings him in with a DDT off the ropes. Matthews keeps Copeland in the corner with stomps and starts choking him out on the ropes. Matthews keeps Copeland down for a while in a choke, as the crowd starts chanting ‘Adam Copeland’. Copeland finally fights out of it and heads to the corner. They start punching away while on the top rope, before they both go spilling onto the apron and floor, with them both just getting back inside before the ten count. They go back and forth running the ropes before they take each other down with a double cross body. Matthews starts spitting up blood, as doctors enter the ring, as we go to picture-in-picture.
When we return, Copeland is in control, attacking Matthews in the corner with punches, until Matthews fights out with a Liger Bomb for a two. Matthews heads to the top rope, but Copeland knocks him down and joins him up. They tussle for a bit until Copeland hits an avalanche Impaler DDT, and crawls to cover him, but Matthews is able to kick out at two. Copeland sets up for the spear, but Matthews stops him with a kick, a couple of knee strikes, and a Jackhammer for a two. Matthews goes right into a crossface, but Copeland turns it into a cradle for two before hitting an Angle Slam for two. Copeland goes for the Spear again, but Matthews dodges it and goes for the stomp, Copeland dodges that and hits the Spear for the pin and the win.
Winner: Adam Copeland by pinfall at 21:02, to retain
Copeland keeps attacking Matthews before grabbing two chairs and setting up for the Conchairto. Before he can deliver it, the lights go out and when they turn on, Malakai Black is in the ring and tells Copeland to go ahead and hit Matthews. Copeland goes to, before turning the chair to Black, as the lights go out once again. When they turn on, both Matthews & Black are gone as Copeland is staring down at the chairs in the ring.
Samoa Joe vs. Isiah Kassidy
The crowd chants ‘Joe is gonna kill you’ as soon as the bell rings, but Isiah Kassidy goes and takes Samoa Joe’s towel, puts it on his neck, and starts mocking Joe. Joe corners Kassidy and eventually sends him up high just to crash down on the mat as Kassidy screams. Joe goes after Kassidy with punches, which sends him to the outside where Joe tries to dive into him, but Kassidy is able to sneak back into the ring. As Joe enters the ring, Kassidy takes him back down with a cutter of the ropes and tries to dive onto Joe, just for Joe to do his walk away. Back in the ring, Kassidy takes control and starts punching Joe in the corner, trying to monkey flip him, but Joe is able to easily stop him and hits the Muscle Buster before covering Kassidy for the win.
Winner: Samoa Joe by pinfall at 3:29
We go to Skye Blue who calls Willow Nightingale a fraud and says if it wasn’t for that ‘bald bitch on a leash’ in Stokely Hathaway she would have beat her. Blue says she’s had Willow’s number and if she’s even half the woman she says she is, she will put the TBS title on the line later tonight on Rampage.
Chuck Taylor Will Never Wrestle Again
Orange Cassidy heads to the ring and says he hates this and thought after Saturday when his best friends, Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta beat each other up, they would get it all out of their system and they would stand together in this ring as Best Friends, but that’s never going to happen. He has been told due to what Trent did to Chuck after the match, his best friend Chuck Taylor will never wrestle again. So now he’s standing in this ring alone to tell Beretta that the next time he sees him, but he gets cut off by Beretta who says big surprise that Orange is making things about himself again. Orange goes to rush up the ramp, but security holds him back as Beretta calls Orange selfish and says Chuck’s career is over because of Orange, not him. Kris Statlander comes out and holds Orange back, before Don Callis shows up and tries to talk to Orange, whispering in his ear before walking to the back with him. Trent then stands in the middle of the stage and puts up a thumbs-up.
The Elite Era
Renee Paquette is in the back with The Young Bucks and asks what they have planned for tonight. Bucks start asking how Jon Moxley is, but then cut her off saying they don’t care and said they are looking for their ‘friend’ tonight and asks if she’s seen him before saying they are giving some time to their friend Jack Perry tonight. Perry said he meant what he said last night when he told Tony Khan that the only thing that he wants is AEW, some people might not see it right now but that’s exactly what he did. Perry said Khan made him the scapegoat and knew it was a sacrifice he had to make. Thanks to Khan, they are entering a new era, under The Elite.
FTW Championship FTW Rules Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Chris Jericho’s father Ted Irvine is seen in the crowd, as Jericho comes out with a bit of a new look wearing trunks, and a new jacket, while waving to the fans. Katsuyori Shibata starts by keeping Jericho against the ropes before they go into a chop exchange before Jericho goes and hits a Lionsault with his knees coming down crashing on Shibata. Jericho heads to the outside as Taz is fired up on commentary talking about Hook returning soon to get his revenge. Jericho finds a trash can lid under the ring that says ‘730’ on it that he starts using on Shibata. Jericho grabs a black bag that’s full of Winnipeg Jets hockey pucks that he pours on the ring, but Shibata ends up suplexing Jericho onto them. They go back to trading chops, with an extremely loud one from Shibata echoing throughout this arena to get the crowd to pop, as we go to picture-in-picture.
When we return, they are still chopping away at each other, which Jericho stops by tossing a puck into Shibata’s face and puts him right into the Liontamer. Shibata is able to escape and put on a Figure Four, as Jericho grabs another puck and tosses it into Shibata’s face, breaking this up. Jericho grabs a trash can and a Kendo stick, putting the can over Shibata and smacking away at it with the Kendo. Shibata gets up, with the trash can still on, and corners Jericho, before headbutting (can-butting?) Jericho, and delivering a dropkick to Jericho in the corner, with the can on him. They both take Kendo sticks and get into a seated position before trading Kendo strikes with each other. Shibata grabs a table from under the ring and places it into the corner, but Jericho stops him with a Codebreaker for two. Shibata stops a Judas Effect attempt and puts Jericho in a sleeper hold before knocking him down and setting the table up. Big Bill runs in and takes out Shibata with a big boot, before choke-slamming Shibata through the table, as Jericho covers Shibata for the pin and the win.
Winner: Chris Jericho by pinfall at 15:26, to retain
Stokely & Statlander Banned
Renee is in the back with Willow, Stokely & Statlander and asks what happened last week with Mercedes Mone’. Statlander says she’s sorry for what she did and she just wanted to diffuse the situation, and again apologies to Willow. Willow moves to Skye Blue and says last week left her in a fighting mood, and she has something for Mercedes. Willow says she will massacre Blue tonight in Winnipeg, as Stokely is upset that he can’t complain to Tony Khan. We see Will Washington step in and hand Renee a phone with a message from the Bucks saying that Statlander & Stokely are banned from ringside tonight.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brian Cage
No Prince Nana out with Brian Cage to sell the attack from earlier, but it also leaves doubt in your mind and the status of The Mogul Embassy with Swerve’s face turn. Claudio Castagnoli & Cage start by bouncing off the ropes with clotheslines, as we hear next week Adam Copeland will defend the TNT Championship against Brody King, plus Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta. They continue to keep bouncing off the ropes until Claudio catches Cage right into a backbreaker. They fight in the corner, where Cage suplexes Claudio from the apron back into the ring with a suplex before we go to picture-in-picture.
When we return, we see Cage hitting a 619 and a big lariat for two. Claudio comes back with an uppercut off the ropes, as both men are now struggling to get back up. Claudio comes right back with his own 619 and lariat for two, as commentary questions what their area codes would be. Claudio catches Cage off the ropes with another uppercut for two and starts calling for the Giant Swing, which he does before putting on the Sharpshooter as Cage eventually taps out.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli by submission at 9:54
Rocky Challenges Kyle
After the break, Renee is with Rocky Romero and asks him who he sides with between Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta. Romero says he can’t side with either one, and there is no real winner in this and he’s done with all of this and Romero does his own thing from now on, and that is to become a champion here in AEW. He brings up being a champion in NJPW, CMLL & ROH, and the only way he knows how to do it is to challenge the best, so he challenges Kyle O’Reilly tonight for Rampage.
Mariah May (w/ Toni Storm & Luther) vs. Serena Deeb
The match starts with Serena Deeb putting Mariah May in a pretzel position, before breaking that up with a dropkick. Deeb stays on top with a shoulder tackle before twisting up May in a surfboard. May is able to dodge Deeb in the corner, place her on the ropes, and taking her down with a headstand hurricanrana as we go to picture-in-picture.
We return to see Deeb is able to stop May in the corner and hit her with a neckbreaker on the ropes. Deeb hits another neckbreaker and starts rallying the crowd behind her. They go back and forth before Deeb catches May off the ropes with a German Suplex and an arm-trap clothesline, for two. May kicks Deeb off of a Figure Four attempt and heads to the top rope where she hits a missile dropkick and a hip attack for two. May follows with a knee strike for another two before they go back and forth with pin attempts, ending with spins into a backslide for two. May comes back with a headbutt and a back suplex, as Toni Storm is cheering her on from the outside. Deeb stops May in the corner trying to do another handstand and puts on the Serenity Lock as Storm throws in the white towel to end the match.
Winner: Serena Deeb by stoppage at 10:31
It is announced that because of that result, Serena Deeb will challenge Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Double or Nothing.
Eyes Up Here
Renee is in the back with Adam Copeland and asks if he’s ok since he looked a little out of sorts tonight. Copeland says he’s ok, as Kyle O’Reilly walks in and says he doesn’t dig what’s going on with the House of Black, so if he needs backup he’ll be watching. Copeland appreciates it but says he has to worry about Brody King next week and tells Kyle good luck with his match with Rocky Romero later tonight. Copeland also throws in a line about Kyle keeping his eyes up and not looking at his title.
Kenny Omega Returns
Justin Roberts is in the ring and gives his big introduction to the returning Kenny Omega. Omega says the crowd is making this tough on him and says he’s never been good at this sort of stuff, as the hometown crowd chants ‘Welcome home’. Omega says he’s never good at talking about injuries, sickness & weakness and talks about being diagnosed with diverticulitis, and after spending 10 days in the hospital, the doctors told him he was one of the lucky ones and was 24 hours away from dying. Omega said ‘Cool story, doc, can you patch me up and send me to Dynamite’. Omega talks about it not being as easy as he had to get cut up and have a bag inserted in him, and if he asked if he didn’t do it, he would have a ticking time bomb in him for the rest of his life and he might wake up one day having the surgery done to him anyway and any blunt force trauma to the stomach could kill him.
Omega continues that for the first time in his career, he felt scared and maybe this whole thing was to come out today and explain that he had to retire. Then he turned on Dynasty and saw Swerve make history and Will Ospreay & Bryan Danielson put on one of the greatest matches he’d ever seen in his life. Omega says it hurts him that he’s already been forgotten so he made a promise to himself and to each and every one of the fans, that this isn’t over until he exhausts every option even if it’s a one percent chance. Bag or no bag, you guys aren’t done with Kenny Omega yet and he has a mission to change the world, and since he’s talking about bags, he’ll talk about two shit bags in Matthew & Nicholas.
Omega says the Bucks have been embarrassing themselves more than ever in the past, and they are free to do that as EVPs. What they forget is that there is one other EVP, and he may be fired from The Elite but they can’t fire him as an EVP and until someone says otherwise, a part of the power in this company belongs to the best bout machine. We hear Kazuchika Okada’s music as he makes his way out. Omega talks about them having quite a rivalry in Japan, and if he gives him a couple of months they can settle it in an AEW ring. Okada says he is sorry and he is the best bout machine now. Jack Perry shows up and attacks Omega from behind, as Okada tosses a chair into the ring. Perry starts taking out security with the chair, as Omega ducks the chair shots and starts punching and kicking away at Perry before hitting him with a Dragon Suplex, but goes right to clutching his stomach. Omega rips his shirt open and goes for a V-Trigger on Perry, but gets tripped up by Okada before Perry hits Omega in the stomach with the chair.
The Young Bucks come out and tell Perry that he needs to relax before they take out Omega with the EVP Trigger. FTR runs out and chases The Elite out of the ring.
Final Thoughts
A bit of a mixed bag here, with the in-ring action being a bit all over the place, sandwiched in between two very strong and important segments between Swerve & Christian (who always delivers on the mic) and a serious closing angle with The Elite & Kenny Omega that smartly carried over into Rampage.
To be honest, the most fun match I had was the 3-minute affair with Samoa Joe & Isiah Kassidy, that was anything but a squash match but still kept Joe strong and a serious threat, while still doing some fun spots with Kassidy. The Copeland-Matthews match went a bit too long and suffered from the fatigue of just building to the inevitable match with Malakai Black. The Jericho-Shibata match was very odd, as it tried to have some fun spots that just felt uncomfortable with trash can lids and puck shots being smashed onto Shibata’s head. Claudio & Cage might have had the best match on the show as the ‘meat madness’ always seems to work for AEW, with May & Deeb having an interesting twist going into the Double or Nothing Women’s World Championship match.
The Elite/Omega segment will obviously be the talking point, and a good follow-up to last week’s attack with another big attack and keeping the Elite a huge threat, but Christian Cage’s promo is another big highlight on the show, although the hair spot was an odd choice.
