AEW Dynamite 2nd Anniversary: Hangman Page Returns

AEW Dynamite celebrated the 2nd anniversary of the show tonight, seeing it open hot with the 8-man tag featuring the Super Elite & The Jurassic Express, Christian Cage, & Bryan Danielson.

The show wasted no time, immediately going to the ring introductions and the start of the match immediately.

The Super Elite (Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Adam Cole, & Kenny Omega) vs. The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus), Christian Cage, & Bryan Danielson

Nick Jackson started the match with Jungle Boy and exchanged some great lucha, with Jungle Boy getting the advantage over Nick Jackson. Little things like that will help get him over as someone that can hand with the main eventers, and helps in building Jungle Boy slowly towards the main event. Great stuff.

Jungle Boy and Christian showed some good teamwork against Adam Cole, and I just realized we are seeing Cage and Cole in the ring for the first time, and it’s fantastic. A dream match I didn’t realize I wanted, but now I definitely want a long singles match between the two. Christian Cage hit the reverse DDT on Adam Cole and dodged an attack from Matt Jackson in the progress.

Omega eventually tagged in, and that was when the tide turned against Jungle Boy and they started to get the heat on him, however, Jungle Boy out luchaed them again, knocking Nick Jackson onto the ropes as he ran up them for an armdrag, jumping onto the ropes holding Matt Jackson’s hand, superkicking Nick Jackson while balancing on the ropes, and then flipping backward into a lucha arm drag on Matt Jackson. That was incredible.

Bryan Danielson tagged in and started to work over Matt Jackson with Luchasaurus to the delight of the crowd. Jungle Boy missed a dive to the floor, and the Young Bucks took advantage, taking him out. Christian Cage got attacked by Michael Nakazawa, but Christian dropped him.

Unfortunately. that resulted in Christian getting the cold spray to the face from Brandon Cutler, and then the Young Bucks hit an Indytaker on the floor, which resulted in doctors coming out and taking Christian out of the match. Matt Jackson superkicked Marko Stunt as he was checking on Christian, to a massive chorus of boos.

The Elite continued the beatdown on Jungle Boy, but Jungle Boy did counter into a brainbuster on Omega, but because of the damage done, Omega got up first. Omega went for a dragon suplex, but Jungle Boy bounced off the ropes and hit a lariat. The Bucks tried to cut him off but ate a double DDT for their trouble.

Jungle Boy tagged in Danielson, and the crowd roared as he came face to face with Omega. Both men started to exchange strikes in the middle of the ring with the crowd going nuts, and Danielson took Omega’s head off with a flying forearm and then hit a corner dropkick and corner kicks on Omega. Danielson hit a hurricarana off the top rope and then hit a diving headbutt on him, but the Bucks broke it up.

Danielson locked the Cattle Mutilation on Omega, but Nick Jackson broke it up with senton bomb. Luchasaurus ran wild on everyone, including chokeslamming Adam Cole onto Omega, kicking both Young Bucks, and hitting both Cole and Omega with a moonsault to the floor. Jungle Boy hit a hurricanrana over the top rope and off the apron on Nick Jackson, Danielson hit a dive on Matt Jackson, then Omega hit a dive on everyone.

Adam Cole went for a dive, and posed for the crowd yelling “Adam Cole, BAY BAY!” instead. Luchasaurus made him pay with a chokeslam, but after a ref distraction they low blowed Luchasaurus, but botched a powerbomb, which they leaned into as the crowd chanted at them and booed it. Cole hit a Panama Sunrise on Jungle Boy, but Danielson broke up the pinfall and he made the entire Elite pay with hard strikes.

Omega caught Danielson’s buzzsaw kick and Danielson ate triple Superkick from Cole and the Young Bucks. The Super Elite hit a 4-way BTE Trigger on Jungle Boy after that to score the pinfall.

Result: The Super Elite

Rating: ****3/4 (4.75)

This match was incredible. What a way to open the show and have everyone walk out looking great. The Super Elite had to cheat to stay ahead but were still deadly enough to get a clean pinfall in the end. The heels got over as super unlikable, Danielson looked like an absolute killer who could beat anyone at any second, the Jurassic Express looked awesome.

With Christian Cage being eliminated from the match, there is a built-in numbers game excuse for the heroes finally losing after a long time with a numbers disadvantage. That said, the babyfaces still had the heels number just until the very end, making them look like it could have gone the other way with just one or two adjustments. This was a masterful 8-man tag.

Jon Moxley cut an amazing promo about the Casino Ladder Match, saying that he has been in ladder matches before and now that he has a 3-month-old daughter, nothing scares him, because babies are insane. That was so awesome.

CM Punk came out and cut a promo about how Philadelphia was a second home to him, and he was going to wrestle there this week and challenged Daniel Garcia to a match for AEW Rampage. This was an awesome promo too.

Arn Anderson was outside of Cody Rhodes’ house, and he was burning his Nightmare Family jacket, saying that Malakai Black was ready for war, while Rhodes was more concerned with his fancy suits, owning a big house, and his reality TV show instead of wrestling.

Cody Rhodes came outside, noticing Anderson, and he protested what Anderson was doing. Anderson asked for Cody’s tie and suit and wanted to burn it right there, but Rhodes resisted. Anderson slapped Rhodes, and Rhodes ended up tossing the tie into the burning barrel. This was also excellent. It seems like Anderson is started to get through to Cody.

A video aired hyping Bobby Fish and touting his accomplishments with NJPW, and ROH. Bobby Fish’s ReDragon ROH music hit and made his way down to the ring, which was great.

TNT Championship Match: Sammy Guevara (c) (Inner Circle) vs. Bobby Fish

Guevara stayed on top of Fish right away, but Fish kicked the legs out from Guevara and was able to get the advantage. Fish hit a senton over the ropes onto Guevara and then a back elbow when they were both up. Fish went for a brainbuster on the apron to the floor, but Guevara floated onto the apron to counter.

Guevara hit a flying knee on the apron to drive Fish to the floor, but Fish responded by kicking the legs out from under him sending him crashing onto the apron and then the floor. Guevara hit another flying the corner, but Fish was able to hit some hard strikes and a Saito suplex to drop Guevara again.

Guevara countered a rip chord into a standing Spanish Fly to make his comeback and went for the 630 senton, but Fish got up too fast and kicked the legs out again. Fish hit a massive top rope falcon arrow for a 2-count. Fish an exploder suplex into the corner, and then went for a buzzsaw kick, but Guevara ducked and hit the GTH out of nowhere to score the pinfall.

Result: Sammy Guevara

Rating: ***1/4 (3.25)

This was a really good match with these two here. Nice little highlight for Fish, and Sammy looked excellent in his first fight.

Dan Lamber, Scorpio Sky, Junior Dos Santos, Paige Van Zant, and several other MMA fighters came in through the crowd and immediately attacked Guevara in the ring. Feugo del Sol tried to make the save, but he got beaten down too. As they were beating on Guevara, Chris Jericho and Jake Hagar ran down, and they started brawling, with Jericho going right after the former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Dos Santos.

Lambert grabbed a mic and was immediately overwhelmed with boos, but Lambert challenged the Inner Circle to a six-man tag for AEW Rampage on October 15th, with The Men of the Year & Junior Dos Santos, and Jericho accepted the challenge. That feels like a big match. This got some incredible heat.

The Acclaimed cut a promo on the Lucha Brothers for AEW Rampage, as they challenged for the AEW World Tag Team Championship.

Tony Schiavone was in the ring to make a huge announcement on behalf of Tony Khan. Schiavone decided to announce a brand new championship in AEW, announcing the TBS Championship. Schiavone announced that AEW Dynamite was moving to TBS on January 5th, 2022, and that this new championship will be decided in a tournament featuring the women of AEW.

Jim Ross was with Darby Allin backstage, and they talked about the personal attacks MJF had against Allin last week. Allin elaborated further about the driving accident with his drunk uncle when he was a kid, and because Allin faced death before, MJF can say whatever he wants, and there is nothing that he can say that will break him or make him lash out. This was a great promo.

Darby Allin w/ Sting vs. Nick Comoroto (The Factory) w/ Aaron Solow & QT Marshall

Allin immediately hit a flip dive to the floor on Comoroto and went for the float over Stunner in the ring, but Comoroto countered and hit a powerslam. Comoroto used his power spots to keep control for the first few minutes of the match, and every time Allin tried to counter the power, Comoroto was able to use the numbers advantage to stay ahead. However, he made one misstep, and Allin hit the float over stunner and then a Coffin Drop for the win.

Result: Darby Allin

Good little squash match here with Allin taking most of the offense. QT Marshall tried to hit a diamond cutter on Sting, but Sting no-sold it and hit the Scorpion Death Drop on Marshall, which was awesome.

The Dark Order was backstage, newly reunited, and they all agreed that they would vote on matters equally about what they should do. They briefly bickered about Alan Angels putting his mask back on, which was quite funny. This was good stuff.

Dante Martin was in the ring, and he made a challenge to anyone in the back. Unfortunately for him, the lights went out, and Malakai Black was right behind him when they came back up. Black hit the Black Mass and left Martin laying before grabbing the mic and saying that he accepted the challenge.

Ricky Starks was in the ring with the FTW Championship, and he talked about the history of it in Philadelphia. Starks said he wanted to wrestle tonight and challenge Cage to a street fight, but Cage didn’t show up to work. Starks quickly regretted saying that, as Cage was there, and Cage ran down and attacked Starks, but Hobbs and Hook bailed him out before it went too far.

Thunder Rosa, Skye Blue, Ruby Soho, and Jade Cargill all cut promos about the upcoming TBS Championship tournament.

Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb

There was some excellent chain wrestling to open this match, as both women showed their technical ability. You can tell Shida was really happy to work with someone who worked a more technical style, as she was right there exchanging holds with her. Shida hit a running kneelift on the outside.

Shida was going to go for the flying knee off the chair on the outside, but Deeb closed the chair, threw it under the ring, and hit a neckbreaker in the ring. Deeb got the heat for a few minutes here, and I liked the announcers telling the story of how Deeb was supposed to be in the title picture, but it was all taken away when she injured her knee.

This explains the storyline motivations for the edge that Deeb has now, and it’s little details like that that help flesh out characters and let us connect with them. Deeb hung onto a cravat, but had to let it go when Shida rammed her into the corner and then hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on her. Shida did a front facelock airplane spine, and landed in a DDT before hitting a missile dropkick on Deeb.

Deeb went for a straighjacket piledriver, but Shida fought out. Deeb countered into a Gedo clutch, but Shida kicked out and then hit a flying knee. Deeb slipped to the floor, rocked from it. Shida hit a middle rope crossbody to the floor, but as Shida went back to the ring, Deeb hit a chopblock and a dragon screw in the ropes before hitting a swinging neckbreaker and continuing to work over the knee.

Deeb went for another chop block, but Shida dodged and hit a Dominator into a facebuster, but Deeb kicked out. Shida hit a falcon arrow, but Deeb kicked out. Deeb raked the eyes of Shida after blocking a knee, and hit another dragon screw before hitting the straight jacket piledriver, for a 2-count. Deeb fired up and smashed the knee into the mat several times before locking on the Serenity Lock and scoring the tapout.

Result: Serena Deeb

Rating: ***1/4 (3.25)

This was an excellent match from both women, and Deeb got incredible heat after grabbing the trophy for Shida’s 50th win and smashed it into the face of Shida, having spoiled Shida’s 50th win. The crowd responded to this by booing Deeb out of the building, which worked quite well.

Darby Allin was backstage and he was told by Alex Marvez that MJF challenged him to a match next week, which Allin accepted. A limo pulled up next to Allin, and he was jumped by several masked men that were clearly the Pinnacle, who threw him hard into some guardrails and then presumably Wardlow hitting an F10 into the pile, and they continued to beat him down. This was great.

Lio Rush was backstage and he cut a promo on Dante Martin, saying that he saw something in him, and offered some guidance to him for his upcoming match with Malakai Black.

Britt Baker was backstage with Tony Schiavone to talk about the TBS Championship, saying that she was glad there was finally a title that the other women could fight over, and she was going to watch it from the very top of the division.

Casino Ladder Match: Orange Cassidy w/ the Best Friends vs. PAC (Death Triangle) vs. Andrade el Idolo w/ Jose the Assistant vs. Matt Hardy vs. Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page

The match opened with PAC and Orange Cassidy, who had a great PPV match a few years ago, and they picked right up where they left off with PAC and Cassidy exchanging holds. Cassidy slowly rolled to the outside, but picked up the pace when PAC chased him, but PAC hit a backbreaker.

Andrade el Idolo was the 3rd competitor, and as PAC climbed the ladder, Andrade hit a springboard onto the ladder and then did a sunset flip powerbomb off the ladder to the mat. Orange Cassidy did a no hands corkscrew into a hurricanarana on Andrade, which was incredible. Matt Hardy was the 4th competitor.

PAC hit a moonsault onto the floor onto both Andrade and Hardy. Lance Archer came down, throwing a stage hand around before killing Cassidy on the apron and then hitting a pounce on PAC. Archer bridged a ladder on the ropes with a ladder in the middle of the ring. Archer hit a splash off the middle ropes onto Cassidy who was on the bridged ladder.

Jon Moxley was 6th, which made Archer pause and wait for him to come down to the ring. Moxley got a massive pop coming out, and he still feels like one of the hottest babyfaces in the company. Moxley and Archer brawled as the announcers let us know that Allin was not cleared for action against MJF next week, and would address it more on Rampage.

Archer had a ladder over his head, and Cassidy hit a Orange Punch on Archer then climbed on Archer’s back trying to get to the poker chip. The Joker made his entry as Archer and Moxley brawled, and it was Hangman Page! The crowd went insane for Hangman, which is good, but I have no idea what they are going to do with Danielson in the title picture too.

PAC cut off Hangman and brought a table into the ring. PAC put Hangman on the table and climbed to the top off the ladder, but Andrade cut him off but PAC shoved him off onto a ladder that was bridged on the outside, which looked brutal. Hangman climbed the ladder and hit a Dead Eye off the ladder through the table onto PAC to a roar from the crowd.

Moxley came in and hit a Paradigm Shift on Hangman. Matt Hardy put Cassidy on a table and hit a legdrop off the top of a ladder through the table on Orange Cassidy through the table to a huge pop. Archer pushed Moxley off the ladder and set up one of his own in the ring, but Hangman hit a Buckshot Lariat on Archer, but Moxley hit Hangman with a chair to stop him.

Hangman and Moxley were on the top of the ladder, as two of the top babyfaces in the company brawled over the title shot on top of the ladder. Hangman shoved Moxley off and climbed to the top of the ladder and grabbed the poker chip, securing a future title shot against Kenny Omega. Holy cow!

Result: Hangman Page

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

This was an incredible ladder match to cap off one of the best episodes of AEW Dynamite that I’ve seen.

Show Rating: ***** (5 stars)

I am not sure about going with Hangman right now when Bryan Danielson is clearly being heated up for a match with Omega too, but honestly, the problem of having too many challengers for a title is a good one, and I’m interested to see how AEW navigates this.

This was easily one of the better episodes of AEW Dynamite, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. It will be interesting to see when Hangman finally challenges Omega, because you have to think he is going to win the title, but then again, this is AEW, and they tell long term stories.

It’s possible Hangman will lose in this match, just barely, leading to a bigger match down the line, but we shall see. Pretty much everything hit on this show, and if you are a fan of pro wrestling, this was definitely the show for you to watch this week.