AEW Dynamite: Preview and Predictions for October 23rd, 2021

AEW Dynamite will air on Saturday night for the second straight week and will be broadcast from Orlando, Florida.

Last week’s show had a handful of signature moments, including Bryan Danielson and Bobby Fish putting on a great main event, FTR ironically capturing the AAA Tag Team Titles from the Lucha Bros, “Hangman” Adam Page delivering his best promo to date, and Lio Rush declaring himself Dante Martin’s new tag team partner, which definitely won’t sit well with Dante’s brother, Darius,  when Darius returns from his injury.

We also saw the Inner Circle reunite and challenge the Men of the Year and American Top Team to a ten-man tag team match. Dan Lambert responded to the challenge by telling the Inner Circle that he had some stipulations first.  And we should find out just what those stipulations are on this week’s show.

MJF came out to claim a countout win over Darby Allin, who was not present in Miami last week, only to be interrupted by Sting.

The meat of this segment was MJF pushing Wardlow into harm’s way while MJF turned tail and ran away.  These subtle moves during these segments are adding to the long-term storytelling of an upcoming Wardlow and MJF split.

It is quite impressive how much quality content AEW continues to pack into Dynamite each week and this week should be no different.

This week’s Dynamite has three announced matches as of now and two of them are part of the World Title Eliminator Tournament.

We will also see the trilogy match between Cody Rhodes and Malakai Black, in which Black has won the first two meetings between the two men.

This week’s Dynamite truly has some high-quality matches that will get us one step closer to setting up the card for the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view.

Let’s take a  closer look at the announced matches for this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite and what to expect from them.

Bryan Danielson vs Dustin Rhodes in a World Title Eliminator Match

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson has been busy since coming to AEW.  Danielson holds singles victories over Bobby Fish, Minoru Suzuki, and Nick Jackson, and of course gave us a match of the year candidate when he squared off with Kenny Omega in a match that ended in a time limit draw.

On Saturday, Danielson will look to take the first step to earn his first AEW World Title opportunity when he takes on Dustin Rhodes.

To be clear, Dustin Rhodes is an ageless marvel.  The man is 52 years old and still moves around the ring like he is in his mid 30’s.

Rhodes has had some great matches and has earned some hard-fought victories in AEW.  And while this will indeed be an excellent match, there is almost no possibility of Dustin Rhodes being the roadblock to keep Danielson from earning the title shot that he so covets.

AEW would be smart to open with this match and make it commercial-free as this will most likely be the match of the night.  Rhodes will be amazing, as always, but will come out on the short end of the outcome.  Winner: Bryan Danielson

Lance Archer vs Eddie Kingston in a World Title Eliminator Match

This is a tough one to call as both Kingston and Archer are extremely talented performers that could really use a push in the tournament.

The bad news for both of these men is no matter which of them moves on, they will most likely have Bryan Danielson waiting for them in the semi-final matchup.

So the question becomes who could most use a win here, and who creates a more compelling matchup with Danielson next week.

While there have been some grumblings about Archer being “underutilized” in AEW I don’t really agree with that assessment.

Archer has had many opportunities since coming to AEW.  He challenged Jon Moxley for both the AEW World Title and IWGP U.S. Title, defeating Mox for the latter.

Archer has also challenged Cody Rhodes and Miro for the TNT Title.   He has been a part of the Casino and Face of the Revolution Ladder Matches, and also teamed with Minoru Suzuki, a legend of professional wrestling, in high profile matches versus Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston.

But that being said, Archer doesn’t seem to get the same crowd reactions that Kingston does.  So a win for Archer here could be helpful in that regard.

On the other hand, since coming to AEW, Bryan Danielson’s matches have been more like fights than wrestling matches.   And that is just the type of match the is the wheelhouse of Eddie Kingston.

Watching Kingston and Danielson beat the crap out of each other for 20 minutes in the next round of this tournament sounds awfully appealing as well.

But at the end of the day, we haven’t really seen Danielson take on a big man since coming to AEW.  And Archer advancing here sets up the opportunity for Danielson to show everyone that to him, size doesn’t matter.  Winner: Lance Archer

Malakai Black vs Cody Rhodes III

After weeks of being called every name imaginable by his coach, Arn Anderson, and by his own Nightmare Family, we will see if the tough love pays off when Cody Rhodes tries for a third time to get a win over Malakai Black.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this match is going to end one of two ways.  With Rhodes exacting his revenge and a celebration with the Nightmare Family, or with Malakai Black winning yet again, and pushing Cody over the edge to a full-fledged heel turn.

And the right call here is the latter for a multitude of reasons.

First, Malakai Black has been handled perfectly since coming to AEW.  From his in-ring work to his promos to his entrance, everything about Malakai Black has been on point.

Black has had a very Undertaker-Esque persona and that has led to him, even as a heel, developing a huge following among the AEW fanbase.

And there is absolutely no reason to kill that persona.  There are so many money matches left for Black and they will be so much more interesting if he goes into them without a loss.   Potential matches with Adam Page, Darby Allin, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson all scream must-see matches.

Second, Cody’s privileged babyface persona has grown stale.  It is hard to get behind someone who speaks of humble beginnings while they wear a suit that costs more than most of the cars that we drive.

And the storyline of the guy that tried to do everything right, while reaching for the stars, only to feel unappreciated and turn heel just kind of writes itself.

And it is time for Cody to embrace that turn.  And a loss here will hopefully cause him to do just that.  Winner: Malakai Black