AEW Dynamite: The Final Labor of Jericho – Jericho vs. MJF

This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite served as the go home show for AEW Rampage: The Last Dance, where CM Punk is likely to debut, but featured some major matches of its own on the road to AEW All Out.

Chris Jericho faced off against MJF in the Final Labour of Jericho, and Sting and Darby Allin teamed up to take on 2.0, a team that has been a thorn in their side over the last 2 weeks. Plus, we heard from Christian Cage, the new Impact World Champion, and Kenny Omega concerning their upcoming match at AEW All Out.

The show started big right away, with Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston making their way down to the ring, however 2.0 and Daniel Garcia attacked them and left them laying in the middle of the crowd, before Jeff Parker grabbed a mic, celebrating that they took out Moxley and Kingston. 2.0 then asked for the tornado tag with Sting & Darby Allin now.

Sting & Darby Allin vs. 2.0 (Jeff Parker and Matt Leel) w/ Daniel Garcia

Allin came into the ring and attacked 2.0 from behind before Sting and Allin hit stereo splashes in the corner and started brawling around the arena and into a backstage area. 2.0 lifted up Allin in a flapjack, but hit Allin’s head into a lintel, which looked brutal. 2.0 and Garcia then took on Sting 3 on 1.

Darby Allin walked on a rail down from the crowd and jumped onto all 3 men. Eddie Kingston came back in and took Daniel Garcia and started beating on him before dragging him backstage to a roar from the crowd. Sting and Allin went back to ringside and pulled a table out from under the ring.

Parker and Lee then hit a suplex on Allin onto the wheels of his skateboard, which was absolutely brutal. 2.0 kept attacking the knee of Sting, who the announcers pointed out had reconstructive knee surgery in 1989 after injuring it in War Games. 2.0 then powerbombed Sting through the table, but Sting stood up and no sold it, hit a Scorpion Death Lock on both men, then locked them both in the Scorpion Death Lock at the same time for a massive pop from the crowd.

Result: Sting & Darby Allin

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

This was a fantastic opening match that worked perfectly in popping the crowd. Sting was utilized perfectly, and Allin looked great. 2.0 were the perfect fodder for the babyfaces here, and they did a great job getting heat after taking out Moxley and Kingston.

A video aired of Sammy Guevara proposing to his girlfriend before the show started, and she said yes! I guess this was Sammy’s important announcement, which is awesome. Shawn Spears cut a promo on Guevara here, mocking him for his proposal before their match tonight.

Shawn Spears (The Pinnacle) w/ Tully Blanchard vs. Sammy Guevara (The Inner Circle)

Spears attacked Guevara on the ramp, but Guevara was able to fight back hit a dive from the ramp onto Spears. Spears, however, threw Guevara into the guardrail and then Blanchard and Spears hit a spike piledriver on the floor before rolling into the ring for the match to start.

Blanchard and Spears tried to do the piledriver on the floor again, but the referee cut them off and thew Blanchard to the back. Spears and Guevara exchanged chops in the middle of the ring with Guevara hitting an enziguri and then Spears hitting The Last Shot on Guevara.

They went to the outside of the ring and Spears was eyeing Guevara’s fiancé, which Guevara didn’t take kindly too. Guevara setup a guardrail and bridged it from the apron to the guardrails. Spears and Guevara both leaped to the top rope from the apron and Spears flipped off Guevara who hit a cutter off the top rope. Spears kicked out and soon thereafter hit a C4 off the top rope, which Guevara kicked out of.

Guevra went for another C4 onto the bridged guardrail, but Guevara reversed it and hit a Death Valley Driver of hit own onto the guardrail, and then hit the 630 splash on Spears, but Spears kicked out! Guevara pulled the knee down of his kneepad and hit 3 strikes right to the face of Spears before hitting the GTH for the pinfall.

Result: Sammy Guevara

Rating: **** (4 stars)

This was an excellent match as Sammy Guevara got a big win in his hometown. He then kissed his fiancé and celebrated with his hometown crowd. That was fantastic.

Christian Cage was backstage and Don Callis interrupted his interview, saying he was glad that Christian was doing well and happy he held gold, and he was finally going to get the 5 star match he wanted when he faces Kenny Omega at AEW All Out. Christian cut him off and said that he knew he was in Omega’s head, and that at All Out he was going to take the AEW World title from Omega, and that Callis is just a carny who isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

Dante Martin was highlighted, as he showed great potential against Omega last week, and he promised he was going to keep getting better every time and get closer and closer to being a champion in AEW. Great stuff.

Dan Lambert was in the ring, and he complained that Tony Khan sent Lance Archer out to shut him up when he tried to tell the truth at the last time he was on AEW Dynamite. Lambert cut a promo on how horrible all the AEW wrestlers are, and now he has backup in Junior Dos Santos & Andre Arlovski, former UFC Heavyweight Champions.

Lance Archer’s music hit to cut Lambert off from quite the promo again, but Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky attacked Archer and beat him down on the rap to the delight of Lambert, Dos Santos, and Arlovski. It looks like The Men of the Year are allying themselves with Dan Lambert. This was a very good segment.

Chris Jericho cut a promo on MJF, saying that he might not have the Judas song or Judas Effect, but he has the advantage over MJF, and he was going to beat him tonight and finally bring an end to his feud with MJF after he tried to kill Jericho in Blood & Guts. Great promo.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (The Elite) w/ Don Callis, The Good Brothers, & Brandon Cutler vs. The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) w/ Mark Stunt: AEW World Tag Team Championship

Nick Jackson started the match with Jungle Boy, and Nick Jackson did some Macho Man poses to mock Jungle Boy. Nick Jackson avoided everything and went to the floor, but Jungle Boy hit a dive while Nick Jackson was using the cold spray.

Jackson ate a lucha armdrag from Jungle Boy and Luchasarus and Jungle Boy were able to keep the advantage over them, including Jungle Boy hitting a hurricanrana by jumping over the top rope into Nick Jackson who was on the apron, and both spilled to the floor. That was spectacular.

Matt Jackson hit a dive to the floor on Luchasaurus. The Bucks started to get the heat on Jungle Boy. Matt Jackson did a cartwheel into a back rake, which made me laugh. The Bucks continued to use cheap tactics to isolate Jungle Boy while Cutler sprayed their backs with cold spray.

Jungle Boy floated over a back body drop from Matt Jackson and hit a lariat on Nick Jackson before tagging out to Luchasaurus who ran wild, throwing both Young Bucks all over the ring and leaving them in trouble. Nick Jackson flipped out of a chokeslam attempt and superkicked Luchasaurus, but Jungle Boy soon hit a superplex on Nick Jackson off the back of Luchasaurus.

Luchasaurus hit a double chokeslam on both Bucks after doing some lucha of his own, and got a 2 count. Jungle Boy tagged in but the Bucks were able to hit double superkicks on both men before hitting an Indytaker on Jungle Boy for a 2-count.

Kenny Omega ran down to ringside and smashed a chair into the back of Marko Stunt. Omega handed the chair to the Bucks, and Christian came out and speared Omega and took him to the back. Jungle Boy hit a brainbuster onto the chair, but Nick Jackson made the save. They hit the Thoracic Express on Matt Jackson, but Nick Jackson made the save again.

The Good Brothers, Brandon Cutler, and Michael Nakazawa all got involved, but the Express fought them all off, however, Jungle Boy turned around right into a BTE Trigger from the Bucks, who barely won this match.

Result: The Young Bucks

Rating: **** (4 stars)

This was an excellent tag match from all 4 men, as the Bucks gave the Jurassic Express tons in the match, to the point that they barely lost, and would have won if it was a fair match. That is how you do the interference properly.

Kenny Omega came back out fighting with Christian Cage after the match and hit a One Winged Angel on Cage and had Callis count a pinfall, showing that Christian can be beat by Omega, just like Cage can beat him.

Britt Baker was backstage with Rebel (not Reba), and Jamie Hayter, and they talked about how Red Velvet was going to pay next week as Jamie Hayter and Baker challenged Velvet and Kris Statlander.

Paul Wight came out to talk with Tony Schiavone and he talked about how great it felt to chokeslam Aaron Solow through the mat in the ring. Wight said he had a huge announcement before QT Marshall cut him off.

Marshall said he didn’t want to disappoint the fans, and there was a reason Tony Khan hired him to be an announcer and not a wrestler. Marshall showed X-Rays on the screen about Paul Wight’s hips, as he had 5 surgeries in the last 18 months.

Wight said that his surgeries weren’t going to hold him back, and that he was cleared to wrestle, and he had a match with QT Marshall at AEW All Out. Good promo from Wight here, and Marshall will be the perfect guy to squash in a short match at All Out.

Jade Cargill was with Mark Sterling in a video, and they talked about a match she wanted with Kiera Hogan on AEW Rampage because she was impressed with her matches against Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander on AEW Dark.

Tony Schiavone was backstage with The Elite and he told them about a tournament that Tony Khan had planned. He announced a 4 team tournament, with the winners of the tournament advancing to All Out to face The Young Bucks in a Cage Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. I have to think Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus are going to win the tournament and face the Bucks based on the booking of this match,

Ricky Starks came out and cut a promo on Brian Cage, and called him out to face off man to man. Cage’s music hit, but Powerhouse Hobbs was fighting with Cage backstage.

Starks ran off backstage and they cut to a promo about the tag team tournament, and PAC confirmed the match he was going to have Andrade El Idolo at AEW All Out. Idolo came up, and said that if PAC wanted the match, they had to agree to his conditions. Chavo Guerrero handed Schiavone a massive contract and they left.

Penelope Ford vs. Thunder Rosa

Rosa came out wearing Texas themed gear to a roar from the crowd. I think this Thunder Rosa lady is over. Rosa hit a shotgun dropkick and then some hard chops in the corner. Rosa stomped on Ford in the corner. Rosa dropkicked Ford to the floor but Ford sent Rosa into the ring post and hit a cutter on the floor.

The advantage didn’t last for long, with Rosa hitting a dropkick against the ropes, but Ford fought out of a Fire Thunder Driver and locked on the Muta Lock, but Rosa rolled over and countered into a half crab before hitting a Death Valley Driver for a 2-count. Rosa then transitioned into a rear naked choke with the arm in, and forced the tapout after countering another Muta Lock.

Result: Thunder Rosa

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Arn Anderson cut a promo about how Malakai Black kicked Anderson’s head off a few weeks ago, and Anderson’s son, Brock Anderson wanted to fight Black next week, and he had be granted the match for Dynamite next week.

A hype video aired for Miro and his destruction of Fuego Del Sol last week, and Miro challenged Eddie Kingston for his next title defence, which is huge.

Jon Moxley was backstage cutting a promo about Daniel Garcia, and how he was in for a rude awakening on AEW Rampage, because he’s the guy who carried AEW on his back through empty arenas and that he is still the top guy in AEW, and when it’s time, he’s going to run through everyone, and he wanted Garcia to really think about what it meant to be on top in AEW, because he had to deal with someone like him. This was an incredible promo.

MJF (The Pinnacle) vs. Chris Jericho (The Inner Circle): The Fifth Labour of Jericho

MJF’s plan to have Jericho walk out without music did not work, as the fans just sang Chris Jericho’s theme and chanted his name. That was absolutely fantastic. MJF was beyond angry, and then the crowd went even more wild for Jericho when the bell rang. Guys, I think this storyline is over.

Jericho took it to MJF right away, and hit a dive to the floor on him, and the crowd chanted even louder for Jericho. MJF grabbed the camera and panned it around flipping the fans off and turned to face Jericho, who punched it into MJF’s face. However, MJF’s plan to work over Jericho’s arm started to pay off as Jericho had his arm smashed into the ring post.

Jericho hit MJF with a forearm, but MJF went right back to the arm but had to break it as they got caught up in the ropes. Both men collided with a double clothesline and were left laying in the ring. MJF sent Jericho to the apron, but Jericho landed and ran up the ropes and hit a big axe handle.

MJF however, countered and thew Jericho into the corner by his bad arm, and continued to work over the arm. Jericho hit a Lionsault on MJF, but only got a 2-count. Jericho hit 10 short lariats in the corner and put MJF on the top rope. Jericho hit 10 punches in the corner and then a top rope hurricanrana on MJF, but as Jericho went for the pin, MJF transitioned into the Salt of the Earth armbar.

Jericho rolled through and locked on the Walls of Jericho, but MJF rolled quickly and hit an upkick on Jericho. Jericho and MJF started to exchange punches with Jericho getting the upper hand, but managed to pull Jericho’s arm across the ropes and hit the Heatseaker for a 2-count. MJF low blowed Jericho and then locked on his own version of the Walls of Jericho.

Jericho managed to drag himself to the ropes to escape, to a good pop from the crowd. Jericho grabbed his baseball bat and MJF grabbed the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Aubrey Edwards caught him and took the ring away, but Jericho was able to hit MJF with the bat. He went for the Judas Effect, but stopped as he was not allowed to hit it.

However, the referee wasn’t looking, so he could have, as he was willing to use the bat behind the ref’s back. That didn’t make sense. MJF hit his own Judas Effect and locked on the Salt of the Earth and eventually made Jericho tap out clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring, which was an unexpected ending to the match.

Result: MJF

Rating: ***1/2 (3.5 stars)

This was a big of a flat ending, as I think the referee was supposed to be looking when Jericho went for the Judas Effect, but she ended up missing it, which screwed up the psychology of the finish. If Jericho was going to use the bat when the ref’s back was turned, why wouldn’t he use the Judas Effect?

Either way, this was a really good match, but the flat finish did hurt it. Jericho put MJF over like a million bucks, which was the intention, but I would have easily given this 4 stars if it wasn’t for the weird transition into MJF hitting the Judas Effect. If we retcon it and say the ref saw Jericho go for it, so he stopped, then MJF hit his own and locked on the armbar, then that is a great finish. It just ended up being that the ref wasn’t looking when it happened, which thew it off.

Show Rating: ***1/2 (3.5 stars)

This was a really solid episode of AEW Dynamite, aside from the flat finish to Jericho and MJF because of the referee mistake. That said, the match was still very good, and the story of it, if the referee was actually looking, would have been great.

The rest of the show was very eventful, from Sting being amazing, to the Young Bucks having yet another awesome tag team match to defend their titles. The progression in their story makes perfect sense with the cage match after all the interference in their matches lately.

Finally, Christian Cage got a huge reaction tonight in his promos, and when he came out to confront Omega during the tag team title match. It’s clear that the win for Cage on AEW Rampage last right really did a great job of heating him up for the match against Omega at All Out, and they had a good heat angle this week with Omega hitting him with the One Winged Angel. Now, we simply await the arrival of CM Punk in 2 days time, and I can’t wait.

Also, Jon Moxley is one of the best promos and babyface in wrestling.