AEW Dynamite
February 9th, 2022
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ
Commentary: Jim Ross, Excalibur & Tony Schiavone
Better Than the Best in the World
The show starts with a long MJF scarf style carpet on the stage and Wardlow makes his way to the ring with a couple cutouts of MJF from his win over CM Punk from last week. Wardlow hands Justin Roberts a note that introduces Tully Blanchard & FTR as ‘living legends’, as commentary points out that Wardlow didn’t get an introduction. FTR and Blanchard come out with glasses of champagne. Shawn Spears comes out with a bottle of champagne and is introduced as ‘the greatest accountabili-buddy’. MJF gets introduced to a long list of accolades and over-the-top nicknames, including ‘the greatest of all time and the man who beat PG Punk twice in that dumpster fire city of Chicago in the mid-mid-Midwest’. MJF comes out with men carrying him on a chair, similar to how winners of the King of the Ring would come out, with two women who kissed him, with one going a bit over the top with it.
MJF starts with saying it’s hot in AC and tells the crowd that he’s holding the mic and to settle down. MJF said he made it crystal clear last week that he was the best on the planet; not Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, or Hangman Page, and now you’re looking at the best in the world. MJF says he’s better than the best in the world, as he beat CM Punk twice in Chicago. The crowd tells him to shut the fuck up, as he says last week was bittersweet for him as he realized he beat someone he looked up to as a child and he leaned over and whispered ‘you suck’ in Punk’s ear. He continues to thank the person who helped him out, and as Wardlow steps up, MJF says it’s Shawn Spears. The crowd starts chanting for Wardlow, as Spears says he got MJF a gift. They cut to the screen where they show MJF’s new ‘Better Than the Best in the World’ t-shirt that’s on sale now. MJF says he proved last week he’s better than Bret Hart in Canada, Roddy Piper in Portland and CM Punk in Chicago and it’s time he becomes your AEW World Champion. CM Punk makes his way to the entrance with no music as Tony Schiavone says he has to make his way over and talk to him.
Punk says he was watching in the back and says MJF’s win in Chicago is as suspect as his suntan, and he learned his mistake from a couple weeks ago so today he’s got some friends. Darby Allin and Sting come out with bats, and hand one to Punk. Punk says it’ll go one of two ways, he’ll get what he wants, or he’ll beat it out of them and ask for a rematch. MJF says he won’t give it to him, but Punk says he means with Wardlow as none of this would happen if it wasn’t for him. Punk tells Wardlow he can be on the other end of this beating, or he can smarten up and leave those jerks in the ring. MJF starts screaming that he beat Punk all by himself as Punk tells Wardlow to listen to the crowd. Punk says Wardlow not only hangs with them because he’s under contract but because he’s best friends with them. Dax Harwood cuts in and says that he’s begging for a rematch, as you have the best tag team in the world in the ring. Punk says sign him up and agrees to a rematch of the six-man match with him, Sting & Allin vs. MJF and FTR. MJF says there’s no way he’s wrestling in this cesspool of Atlantic City, but since we are here, they will roll the dice a bit and if Punk can beat FTR with any tag team partner of his choosing he’ll give him a match anytime, anywhere but the only stipulation is it can’t be Sting or Allin and good luck finding anyone backstage who likes him. MJF tells Wardlow to suit up as he has a match next and calls himself better than the best in the world again.
Mano a Mano
Tony Schiavone is backstage with Andrade El Idolo, Jose the Assistant, Sting, and Darby Allin and Andrade says finally he meets Darby’s boss and says the world knows ‘this kid works for him’. Sting says he’s not a kid and if he has a dispute with Darby to speak to him ‘mano a mano’. Allin tells Andrade to stop wasting his time and has bigger things to do than mess with him like become TNT Champion. Andrade says Darby will work for him as they have something in common, Darby wants the TNT Championship and Andrade says he is the next TNT Champion. Sting says one thing is for sure, that Andrade means it.
Wardlow (w/ Shawn Spears) vs. The Blade
The Blade goes right after Wardlow before the bell rings and goes for his legs, as Wardlow didn’t even have time to tape up before this match. The crowd gets behind Wardlow, who comes back with a hard clothesline. Wardlow hits a couple belly-to-belly overhead suplexes as Spears is outside clapping on while sitting on a chair. The Blade goes outside, but Wardlow goes right after and starts slamming him against the ring post as they go to picture-in-picture.
When we come back, The Blade tries chopping away but Wardlow rushes him right into the corner before the referee pulls him away. Blade counters with a couple knee strikes, tries a third one but Wardlow catches him and powerbombs him down. Crowd chants for more, and Wardlow hits him with four more powerbombs before going for the pin, as Spears kept telling him to stop.
Winner: Wardlow by pinfall at 6:15
Spears comes in and hits Blade with a chair before leaving with Wardlow.
Penta Oscuro
We have this creepy video of Penta El Zero Miedo at a cemetery with a shovel as we hear the narration by Alex Abrahantes. Penta digs up his old ‘Pentagon Dark’ mask as Alex calls it ‘Penta Oscuro’.
Attendance is Mandatory
The Inner Circle come out for their meeting but it’s just Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager. Jericho says he doesn’t know where Santana and Ortiz are, but this prompts them to come out with their own theme music. Jericho questions them on why they didn’t tag him in during their six-man match from a couple of weeks ago and it was unacceptable and disrespectful, and he wants to know why they did that. Santana tells him to cut the corny shit and Jericho only cares about Chris Jericho and everything they’ve done has been for the advancement of one person, and that’s Jericho and asks Jericho if he’s wrong. And any time they had the spotlight or came close to winning the tag titles, it got thrown to the side so they could come to Jericho’s rescue and ask Jericho if they were wrong. Santana says it’s funny that they are out there because they came out here face to face to tell him that the days of them playing second fiddle are over and done with and tells Jericho not to raise the mic because he isn’t finished. At the end of the day Jericho always stood in the way of Santana and Ortiz and always made sure they didn’t have a bigger spotlight than them, but the fans kept them going. Santana says he will tell everybody that Jericho needs to thank Ortiz for everything he has because if it wasn’t for him, he would have dropped Jericho’s ass a long time ago and then tells Jericho he may speak.
Jericho says Santana reminds him of Eddie Guerrero as he wanted to blame everybody, even his close friends and asks what the hell Eddie Kingston has ever done for him in AEW and says Kingston has zero stroke. Jericho says he’s the influencer and since he brought them there, they have been in the main events of all the shows and made more money than they ever had made in their lives. Jericho says they had a chance to be the tag team champions in February of last year, but they lost to the Young Bucks and that had nothing to do with him. He brought them into the Inner Circle, and he can kick them out. Jericho says maybe he invited the wrong two members of LAX to join and asks Hager if he has Homicide and Hernandez’s number. Santana gets in Jericho’s face, but Guevara stops him and tells them they are a family. Jericho tells Sammy to shut up which gets Sammy a bit upset now. Jericho tries to talk, but Sammy tells him to save it. Sammy doesn’t know what’s going on as they are family, but he’s going to be honest and wants to be one of the greatest champions in wrestling, but all this bickering back and forth isn’t going to help it. Guevara takes off his ‘Inner Circle’ vest and says he quit this group before and unless they can figure this shit out, he’ll quit again, before leaving his vest in the ring and leaving to the back. Ortiz gets on the mic and says Jericho couldn’t be more wrong about Kingston not doing anything for him, as he is their brother, and all this bickering and moaning they are doing isn’t going to settle anything. Where they come from, if they have an issue, they don’t deal with it by talking, they do it by using their fist and say next week Santana and Ortiz vs. Jericho and Hager and they settle this shit once and for all. Jericho said he never wanted it to come down to this but if he wants a fight, they’ll get one, and after they smack their faces around, they’ll have an attitude adjustment and if they don’t, they’ll make some changes and tell them attendance is mandatory.
The Forbidden Blade
Tony Schiavone is backstage with Roppongi Vice where they say they are ready for their match with Young Bucks on Rampage this Friday. Young Bucks get in their face, only to get attacked from behind by Adam Cole, as the Young Bucks hit the BTE Trigger on Romero. As they are about to attack Trent Beretta, Cole says ‘look who it is’, as Jay White comes into the picture and throws Beretta into the production truck.
Face of the Revolution Qualifying Match: Keith Lee vs. Isiah Kassidy (w/ Marq Quen & Matt Hardy)
Lee comes out with some pretty good theme music and gets a huge pop. The crowd starts chanting ‘oh, bask in his glory’, as Kassidy gets right in Lee’s face and gets tossed to the other side with ease from Lee. Lee does all his usual extraordinary moves before sling shooting himself into a cross body onto Kassidy. Lee goes to pick up Kassidy, but Kassidy escapes and hits a dropkick before Lee bounces off the ropes and pounces Kassidy to the outside. Matt Hardy gets upset and starts leaving out through the audience. Quen interferes and holds the boot of Lee, which gives Kassidy time to hit a cutter on Lee and a corkscrew over the top rope to the outside on Lee. Back inside, Kassidy tries to fight off Lee, but Lee swats him down easily and hits a pop-up Jack Hammer for the pin.
Winner: Keith Lee by pinfall at 4:29
Marq Quen jumps right into the ring and tries to attack Lee with dropkicks before Kassidy comes out and they take him to the outside with a double dropkick. Lee catches both of Private Party on the outside as they are trying to dive and powerbombs Quen onto Kassidy before power bombing him onto the apron.
Mercedes-Rosa II
We go to a video where Dr. Britt Baker is with Mercedes Martinez and reminds people she brought in Mercedes and says next week the match with Mercedes and Thunder Rosa will be a No DQ match so there are no excuses. Rosa says she won’t back down from this and Mercedes doesn’t know what she got herself into.
CM Punk & Jon Moxley vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (w/ Tully Blanchard)
Moxley comes out as Punk’s mystery partner to a huge reaction. Punk and Harwood start the match, with Harwood getting frustrated before tagging out to Wheeler. Crowd chants for Moxley, who comes in to GCW chants as they are here in GCW territory. Harwood comes in and holds Moxley down with a side headlock, but Moxley comes back with a bunch of kicks and an elbow drop and gets a one count. Punk comes in as Wheeler distracts Punk giving Harwood the chance to clip Punk’s leg as FTR keeps working on it and taking turns tagging in and out. Moxley comes in with the hot tag and hits a couple suplex followed by a double DDT on FTR, taking them out of the ring, but Wheeler trips up Moxley. Punk takes out Wheeler with a springboard lariat, tries to dive onto FTR, gets caught, but Moxley dives on all three taking them all out as we go to picture-in-picture.
When we come back, we see FTR put Moxley through the timekeeper’s table with a back body drop. Moxley is about to get counted out but runs right in at nine. FTR go right after Moxley, choking him out with their boots in the corner. Moxley comes back with a suplex on Wheeler and crawls over to Punk, but Harwood fights off Punk and gets knocked off by Wheeler. FTR dragged Moxley over to their corner and took him out with a double team leg drop for a two count. Moxley seems dazed and confused but knocks Wheeler down with a clothesline and makes the hot tag to Punk. Punk hits a leg lariat on Harwood, followed by the rising knee strike in the corner, hits a short armed clothesline on Harwood for a two count. Punk knocks Wheeler off the top rope, as Moxley puts Harwood on his shoulders, for Punk to hit a Doomsday Device. Moxley dives onto Wheeler on the outside, as Punk goes for the pin on Harwood and gets a two. Wheeler hits a DDT to Moxley on the floor, before grabbing the ring bell. Harwood kicks Punk into Wheeler who hits Punk with the ring bell, but Punk is able to kick out at the last second. FTR comes back with the Big Rig on Punk, but Moxley breaks it up. All four men go back and forth until Wheeler pushes Punk into Moxley. FTR goes for the spiked piledriver, but Moxley stops them. As Punk puts the Anaconda Vice on Wheeler, Tully Blanchard comes into the ring and gets hit with the GTS. Moxley ends up hitting the Paradigm Shift on Harwood, while Punk hits the GTS on Wheeler for the pin and the win.
Winner: CM Punk & Jon Moxley by pinfall at 18:48
AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) (w/ Mark Sterling) vs. A.Q.A.
A.Q.A. (the former Zayda Ramier from NXT) cuts a promo before the match talking about being trained by Booker T. As the match starts, Jade tosses A.Q.A. down easily. Jade continues to dominate her, but A.Q.A. flips off of Jade, joins her on the outside and gets knocked down with a forearm as they go to picture-in-picture.
When we come back, A.Q.A. hits a sling blade and a tilt-a-whirl DDT. A.Q.A. goes to the top and hits a beautiful Shooting Star Press but Jade kicks out. A.Q.A. goes to the top but ends up slipping off. She goes to the other side and gets caught by Jade and slammed down, then hit with the Jaded for the pin
Winner: Jade Cargill by pinfall at 7:34
We go to The Young Bucks & Adam Cole backstage who joke around that Roppongi Vice isn’t feeling a hundred percent and say those tag team titles are coming back to them. Cole says that Jay White has their back, and the Young Bucks tell Cole he could have told them about him and mention how White and Kenny Omega used to be arch enemies. Cole tells them to trust him, and once your Bullet Club, you’re Bullet Club for life, and says he has to make a statement himself and heads off. They ask Brandon Cutler if he knew about this Jay White thing, and he said he saw something on Reddit about it.
Serena Deeb vs. Katie Arquette
Deeb comes out cutting a promo and says how this rookie in the ring can’t last more than five minutes with her. Deeb plays with her, while looking at the time before finally tapping out to the Serenity Lock.
Winner: Serena Deeb by submission at 1:00
Rampage Line-Up
· Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero) vs. Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)
· We hear from Bryan Danielson
· Hook vs. Blake Li
· Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Robyn Renegade
· AEW Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (c) vs. Gunn Club (Colten Gunn & Austin Gunn)
Dynamite Line-Up
· Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Santana & Ortiz
· No Disqualification Match: Mercedes Martinez vs. Thunder Rosa
AEW World Championship Texas Death Match: Adam Page (c) vs. Lance Archer (w/ Dan Lambert & Jake Roberts)
As the match starts, they are already fighting in the back and make their way to the stage as the bell rings and Page throws Archer into a pane of glass as Archer is already bleeding from the forehead. Page throws Archer into the ring and hits him with the Buckshot Lariat, as the referee starts counting as the only way to win this match is by knockout or submission. Archer slowly gets up at the nine-count, but Page takes him back down with a crossbody. Page tries a suicide dive, but Archer stops him with a trash can lid to the head as Dan Lambert makes his way to the ring and starts unscrewing the turnbuckles. Jake Roberts also makes his way ringside, as Page sends Archer into the crowd and hits a moonsault off the stairs. As Page sends Archer back inside, he notices that the top rope is now down, and he can’t do the Buckshot Lariat. Archer takes control as they go to picture-in-picture.
When we come back, two tables are set up on the outside with Page trying the Dead Eye off the Apron. Archer escapes, as Page is now leaking blood everywhere. Page tries to kick Archer off, but Archer tosses him onto the turnbuckle. Roberts takes Page out with a short-armed clothesline and tries to go for the DDT, but Archer stops him, so Page hits Archer with the DDT instead. Back inside, Page starts attacking Archer with the kendo stick, including shots to the head. Archer stops him, breaks the kendo stick, and chokeslams Page onto a trash can. Archer grabs a fork and starts attacking Page’s face with it before putting the fork in their mouth. Archer goes to grab weapons under the ring and finds a chair wrapped with barbed wire. Archer sets up steel steps and drops Page down onto it with the Blackout. Archer goes for a powerbomb in the ring, but Page escapes, wraps barbed wire around his arm and hits Archer with it. Page hits a suplex, then uses the referee to bounce off for a Buckshot Lariat, knocking them both down onto the table on the outside. They are both down, but Page gets up right before the 10 count, but Archer doesn’t, therefore ending the match.
Winner: Adam Page by knockout at 15:26, to retain
Adam Cole heads right to the ring, takes the AEW World Championship, but places it onto the shoulder of Page before leaving to the back as commentary implies with Archer’s loss, Cole is next in line for a title shot.
