AEW Dynamite: Results, Grades, and Analysis for December 4, 2019

Jon Moxley (3-1-1) vs. Joey Janela (2-4)

Moxley immediately took Janela down and got a 1 count, and then he simply walked on Janela’s back and then took him down with a side headlock takeover. Janela ducked under two attacks and hit a running forearm that dropped Mox. Mox got back to his feet and took a chop. Moxley shrugged it off and then both men started a chop battle until Moxley headbutt Janela.

Janela sent Moxley to the ramp and climbed onto the top rope and hit a flying axe handle on Mox. Moxley sent Janela into the ropes, and Janela ran back and ate a clothesline that caused him to backflip while on the ramp (if I didn’t say it earlier, the ramp was right up to the ring apron, like classic WCW or ECW).

Back in the ring, Janela kicked out at one, but Moxley did a crub stomp to Janela that sent him face first into the ring.

Moxley locked on a stepover facelock, but Janela bit his hands to break free. Janela sent Moxley to the floor and knocked Moxley, but Moxley shoved Janela into the ring apron. Moxley sent Janela into the guardrail and threw Moxley onto the ramp and back into the ring before Moxley responded with a throwing suplex of his own. Tony called it the El Flippo, which was hilarious.

Moxley went for the Paradigm Shift on the ramp, but Janela flipped over back into the ring and then hit a flying Tornado DDT on the ramp on Moxley. Moxley rolled back into the ring, and Janela hit the tope suicida (“Love that!” said Tony Schiavone again. As do I, Tony. I also love his love of the tope suicida). Janela hit a school boy off the middle rope for a 2 count. Moxley and Janela exchanged forearms and Janela hit a rolling one, hit the ropes, and ate a kick from Mox.

Janela hit a superkick on Moxley and then hit a snap German suplex on Moxley into the corner. Moxley rolled to the outside and leaned against the timekeeper’s table. Janela flew over the top rope and threw the timekeeper’s table! Janela hit the flying elbow drop into the ring and got a 2 count! Moxley and Janela ended up on the ropes and Moxley went for a Paradigm Shift, and drove him into the top turnbuckle before going back into the ring and hitting a second Paradigm Shift!

Result: Jon Moxley (4-1-1)

Rating: ****1/4 (4.25 stars)

This was an excellent main event where Janela looked like a star that could keep up with Moxley. Jericho’s music hit and the Inner Circle entered the arena like Moxley did last week, walking down through the crowd. Moxley showed that he saw all 5 men, and he was prepared to fight. As Jericho walked towards the ring, the show went off the air.

Show Rating: **** (4 stars)

This was an excellent episode of AEW Dynamite that saw some great matches and two great promos from Jericho and Cody. Cody Rhodes came across as the best babyface in wrestling, and I cannot wait for him to face MJF. He cut a very Ric Flair like promo, down to removing his shoes and begging MJF to take a match with him.

Moxley and Jericho’s feud is just getting started, and I can’t wait to see where they go with it. We are also going to see the next match in the feud between the Young Bucks & Santana & Ortiz as the have a street fight next week. Kris Statlander has to be considered the #1 contender for the AEW Women’s Championship now, and what’s next for Hikaru Shida?

There were a lot of things to like here on this episode, however the segment with Brandi Rhodes was a weird one. I’m willing to give it time, as the Dark Order went from being “What are they?” and a relatively poor act to becoming a very interesting part of the show that I look forward to seeing every week.

If they can do that with the Dark Order, I will give this some time. However, a second cult in the company is a bit of a weird thing to do. Throw in the Bunny, Butcher, and Blade being cult like, and it seems a bit overdone, however, on Twitter, MJF cut a promo saying he hired them to attack Cody:

They need to show these on TV. They still do too much on social media and YouTube that doesn’t make air. Cut a little time off Pentagon/Daniels and let this 2 minute promo air, or something. Excellent promo by MJF, but I only happened upon it.

Please show these on TV, AEW. AEW has so many guys that cut great promos, but we often don’t see them because they’re just on AEW social media. AEW has done better with this of late, including recapping stuff from AEW Dark, but we still need these things ironed out. Still, this promo was excellent and gives us motivation for Butcher & Blade being in AEW.

Overall, a very good show from AEW. It’s good to see that AEW isn’t panicking about the lower rating last week (even though they won the 18-49 demo, it was just barely), and are sticking with their direction. That will do better over the long term, as long term planning always pays off a year or two down the road.

I am very pleased that AEW decided against hotshotting, and I am very excited to see Chris Jericho vs. Jungle Boy on the 18th. All in all, they left me excited for the next 2 weeks of television, and that’s all you can ask. AEW has setup their next two shows to round out the year (as they will not be running on Christmas), and I can’t wait to see how they go.