AEW Dynamite: Results, Highlights, and Grades for Oct. 16, 2019

Chris Jericho (c) (Inner Circle) (4-0) vs. Darby Allin (2-2-1) – Street Fight for AEW World Championship

Jericho came out with his Painmaker persona for the first time on AEW Dynamite, while Darby Allin came out with his face paint having champ writing all over it. Allin clotheslined Jericho to the floor and hit a suicide dive that sent Jericho crashing to the floor. As they got ack into the ring, Jericho cut him off and hit a backdrop on Allin.

Jericho chopped Allin and then sent him chest first into the corner and clotheslined the back of his head into the top turnbuckle. Allin managed to come back and hit the Code Red, but Jericho kicked out and cut him off with a clothesline. Jericho threw Allin into the corner, and Allin slipped between the middle and top rope and crashed into the post at ringside. Ouch!

Jericho grabbed Darby by the legs and did a slingshot under the guardrail to cause Allin’s throat to hit the guardrail. Jericho beat him around ringside during the ad break and hit afront suplex on him over the guardrail before trying to skateboard on Darby’s board. Jericho has been an absolute master of working the crowd here.

Jericho worked over Allin with a kendo stick. Jericho went for a cane shot from the middle rope, but Darby Allin countered with some strikes, but ran into a back elbow from Jericho. Allin went for a crucifix but Jericho kicked out. Allin hit Jericho with the Kendo stick and rolled him up, but Jericho kicked out. Allin transitioned into a Fujiwara armbar, but Jericho rolled through into the Walls of Jericho.

Jericho argued with Aubrey Edwards, but she shoved him as Allin was in the ropes. Allin hit a crossbody on Jericho, but Jericho kicked out and then hit the Code Breaker for a 2 count. Allin grabbed the bottom rope to force the break. Jericho grabbed a chair from under the ring and nailed Allin with it before hitting him in the back with the chair.

Jericho put the chair in the corner and tried to lawn dart Darby into the chair, but Darby flipped out into a stunner and got a 2 count again. Wow. Jericho caught Darby by the legs, but Jericho turned it into the Walls of Jericho again, but Allin got the ropes. Jericho grabbed duct tape from under the ring and tapped his arms behind his back.

Jericho faked throwing the tape into the crowd and then started beating on Allin. Darby managed to hit a lionsault of his own with his hands tied behind his back, and then hit a flipping dive through the middle rope on Jericho, all with no hands. Allin manged to hit a flipping attack for a near fall. Jericho clubbed Darby in the face and then grabbed Darby’s skateboard before powerbombing Darby on it.

Darby Allin kicked out. Jericho tried to hit him with a chair, but Allin dropkicked the chair into Jericho’s face. Allin went to the top rope for the Coffin Drop, but Jericho grabbed the referee and Jake Hager punched Allin in the face to save Jericho. Jericho then got up and locked on the Lion Tamer and Allin was forced to give up.

Result: Chris Jericho (5-0)

Rating: ***3/4 (3.75 stars)

The rest of the Inner Circle came out and celebrated as the show went off the air.

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

Another excellent showing from AEW here. AEW has done a great job establishing their show as one that will have big matches but also lead perfectly into the PPV. PAC vs. Moxley was announced for next week, and that should be a blow away great match. However, not everything is perfect on these shows.

One such example is Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela from AEW Dark was not even given a quick recap on the show. The reason why this is a major negative is that Omega decided that he needed a match against someone crazy like Janela so he could handle Moxley. Omega and Janela then killed each other for over 20 minutes and Omega was able to win in a Moxley style match. That was important to the story they’re building between the two, so it should have been highlighted a little bit.

Overall, the show was fantastic. AEW Dynamite isn’t perfect, but it is absolutely refreshing in that everything leads into the next show well. It isn’t just matches for the sake of matches – everything is going somewhere. I’m excited to see the next few shows and how they continue to build AEW Full Gear.