AEW Dynamite: Sammy Guevara vs. Scorpio Sky, Owen Hart Invitational continues

This episode of AEW Dynamite featured a main event between Scorpio Sky & Sammy Guevara, FTR facing off against each other for the first time, and more!

CM Punk joined the commentary table to call this match, which will be a love letter to Bret Hart, so it’s only appropriate that they are all involved in this one.

Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler

Harwood and Wheeler came out together and started exchanging technical wrestling in their Hart Foundation inspired gear. Wheeler seemed to have the advantage in the early parts, always coming out on top with Wheeler hitting chops and other moves. Harwood managed to hit a superplex and both men were left down on the mat.

Wheeler and Harwood hit some chops on each other, while CM Punk reminded us that they needed to be careful to not get too intense with each other because they still have tag titles to defend. Wheeler threw Harwood into the turnbuckle, and he went in sternum first, just like Bret Hart would, as JR pointed out.

Wheeler hit a series of German suplexes on Harwood but Harwood went around and hit one on Wheeler. Both men exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring, and then went into a series of nearfalls as they tried to pin each other. Harwood and Wheeler crashed to the floor and barely made it back into the ring on time. Harwood went for the sharpshooter, but Wheeler rolled him up. Harwood shifted the weight and scored the pinfall.

Result: Dax Harwood

Rating: ****1/4

Fantastic technical match between both guys here. This match featured a ton of references to Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, and had moves both men would do. Both men celebrated together on their way out of the ring.

CM Punk vs. Hangman Page was announced for AEW Double or Nothing facing off for the AEW World Championship. Punk grabbed a mic and said that when he came back he wasn’t sure if he could still do this, but now he knows he can. Punk promised that every match until this point was a warm up, and while he can’t promise he will win, promised to fight and he couldn’t do this without the fans. Punk promised to fight until he had nothing left.

Scorpio Sky and Dan Lambert cut a promo about the ladder match tonight, with Sky highlighting his accomplishments in AEW, saying that it was not an accident that he achieved them. This was very good.

The Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, & Wheeler Yuta) w/ William Regal defeated The Factory (Aaron Solow, Nick Comoroto, & QT Marshall)

Moxley started the match with Comoroto, but it soon broke down to The Factory getting the heat on Wheeler Yuta. Solow and Comoroto spent a good portion of the early parts of the match working over Yuta with basic offence. Solow hit a back suplex and put on a neck crank. Yuta floated back into the ring after Marshall thought he threw him out and hit a German suplex before tagging out to Bryan Danielson.

Danielson ran around the ring taking out everyone, hitting kicks on Solow, a tope on Comoroto and Marshall, and then went for the LaBell lock on Solow before Marshall broke it up. Solow shoved Danielson off the top rope and hit a dropkick Yuta focused on submitting Comoroto, but Comoroto used power to fight out. Danielson and Moxley cut off the others with submissions as Yuta did the seatbelt pin on Comoroto for the victory.

Result: The Blackpool Combat Club

Rating: ***1/2

I loved the finish of this match. Yuta is getting over, and it’s so cool to see.

Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Toni Storm were backstage, implying that Storm had no one to back her up. Ruby Soho walked onto set and talked about how she had the back of Storm and they were going to ensure that the matches were fair.

The Jurassic Express and Christian Cage were backstage and Christian made some subtle hints towards a heel turn on Jungle Boy that will be coming soon, and issued a challenge to any top 5 tag team. Team Taz answered the challenge with Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs showing up and saying they were going to take their spot at the top of the tag team division.

Lance Archer w/ Jake Roberts vs. Wardlow

Lance Archer did a flip dive over the top rope onto Wardlow and all the security guards at ringside. Wardlow fought back fast in the ring and both big men exchanged hard strikes in the middle of the ring. Archer grabbed Wardlow by the hand and did a ropewalk moonsault onto Wardlow.

Archer did the Black Out on Wardlow, but Wardlow countered into a crucifix on him for a 2-count. Archer was not happy about this, so he put Wardlow on the top rope but Wardlow headbutt him and hit a senton bomb off the top rope. Wardlow picked Archer up and hit the first of the Powerbomb Symphony, as Jake Roberts looked on in shock. Wardlow hit 3 more powerbombs and scored the pinfall.

Result: Wardlow

Rating: ***1/4

This was a mean guy match at its core with the two giants clashing. Wardlow looked awesome again in this, and it’s clear that his work as a babyface is catching on everywhere as the crowds cheer him even with MJF muting his music.

The Jericho Appreciation Society made their way down to the ring, and noted that they asked for a sitdown with Eddie Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz, calling the fans the AEW Galaxy, which got booed. I love how simple the heat is for this. Jericho told the fans to shutup when they chanted for Eddie Kingston, so they just kept cheering.

Jericho demanded an apology for being kicked out of the building on AEW Rampage. Santana and Ortiz flipped off Jericho. Garcia claimed that they couldn’t hit them, because they agreed to no violence at this segment. Kingston said he hated sports entertainment, and he just wanted to fight, and he didn’t care if it was 5 on 3. Jericho told Kingston to shut his mouth and do what he was told, because the JAS was putting a hit on them. Kingston said he didn’t know what he was talking about, and that he bit off more than he could chew, making Jericho sit down and cower in fear from words alone.

A hype video aired for Scorpio Sky and Sammy Guevera, and Guevara made it clear he was the heel with everything he said.

Serena Deeb vs. Hikaru Shida in a Street Fight

Shida went right after Deeb with Deeb trying hard to escape the assault early on. Shida put Deeb on the top turnbuckle and hit a running knee on Deeb. Deeb grabbed a chair and pulled it in the way of a knee strike, leaving Shida to crash to the mats on the floor. Deeb did a knee breaker on the chair, that immediately made Shida scream and sell the knee that Deeb injured a few months ago.

Deeb nailed Shida in the knee with the chair as Shida’s kene was trapped in the apron. Shida had a brief attempt at a comeback, but Deeb threw powder in her face and nailed her with a kendo stick. Shida went over to a kendo stick and swung wildly before getting to the ringside area and getting a bottle of water. Shida hit a missile dropkick off the steps that sent Deeb to the floor.

Shida nailed Deeb with a kendo stick several times but as Shida went for the Katana, Deeb lifted a chair and Shida crashed knee first into it. Deeb tried to Pillmanize the leg of Shida, but Shida hit her with the chair and hit a falcon arrow off the middle rope for a 2-count. Deeb poked the eyes of Shdia and hit a Detox on a chair for a 2-count before going for the Serenity Lock. Deeb smashed Shida’s knee into the chair before putting on a Texas Cloverleaf for the submission.

Result: Serena Deeb

Rating: ***1/2

This was an excellent match with great storytelling around Shida’s knee injury. Deeb looked like an absolute killer. Deeb is clearly being setup to face Thunder Rosa soon, and this was a perfect way to make it happen.

MJF and Shawn Spears were backstage, and MJF was infuriated with Wardlow winning over Archer, so he made a phone call to someone and offered them six figures to face Wardlow next week. MJF said he was 7 feet tall, and that you couldn’t teach that. It seems W. Morrisey is coming into AEW to face Wardlow next week.

The lights went out and the House of Black entered the arena with Fuego del Sol. They were going to unmask him, but Alex Abrahantes interrupted and cut a promo about how he was House of Black was going to pay. Penta el Zero M came onto the ramp, and PAC soon followed. Alex Abrahantes came out behind PAC, so the person in the ring in his robes was not him. The person removed the robes, and it was Rey Fenix returning to AEW! The Death Triangle ran wild taking all 3 men out, hitting triple stereo dives.

Swerve and Darby Allin were backstage talking about their upcoming match to qualify for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, and Swerve talked about his history with Allin on the indies, and Allin said that AEW was his house, so he was going to do whatever it took to advance to the tournament.

The Undisputed Elite (Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reily, Matt & Nick Jackson, & Adam Cole) vs. The Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr., Dante Martin, Lee Johnson, and Brock Anderson) w/ Julia Hart & Arn Anderson

It didn’t take long for the Undisputed Elite to argue near the start of the match, which resulted in the team of younger wrestlers getting one up on them. Jim Ross rightly noted that they needed someone to take the lead and bring unity to the group. It wasn’t long before calmer head prevailed and the Young Bucks were running wild on everyone with dives and superkicks. reDragon and the Bucks seemed to get on the same page for a lot of this, helping spot each other. Adam Cole tagged as reDragon and the Bucks hit a 4-way BTE trigger on Lee Johnson, followed by the Boom by Cole for the pinfall.

Result: The Undisputed Elite

Rating: **3/4

Adam Cole handed t-shirts to the Young Bucks after the match who reluctantly put them on, but then did their usual poses with Cole and reDragon. This match was all about the story being told between the Bucks, Adam Cole, and reDragon.

They cut to the back and the Jericho Appreciation Society were beating down Santana, Ortiz, and Eddie Kingston. This ended with Jericho throwing a fireball into the face of Eddie Kingston, in a big-time angle that I hope they play up for the next few weeks leading into Double or Nothing.

AEW announced that Hook would face Danhasuen on AEW Rampage, and that Deonna Purrazzo would be making her AEW debut to face Mercedes Martinez in a unification match for the ROH Women’s Championship.

TNT Championship Ladder Match: Sammy Guevara (c) w/ Tay Conti vs. Scorpio Sky (The Men of the Year) w/ Dan Lambert

Sky left the ring and immediately started brawling with Guevara around ringside, throwing him into the guardrail at ringside. Sky grabbed a huge ladder off the ramp and hit Guevara with it on the outside of the ring. The ladder was setup in the ring and Guevara went for a slingshot, but Sky landed halfway up the ladder so Guevara had to quickly pull him down.

Guevara climbed the ladder but it moved toward the corner. Guevara decided to do a twisting senton onto Sky, but it looked like he landed on his head. The referees came into the ring to check on Guevara and Sky decided to grab the ladder while Guevara was dazed. Guevara managed to shove the ladder over while the referee checked on him to make sure he was okay.

Tay Conti attacked Sky from behind which gave Guevara a chance to grab a ladder. Guevara went to hit a cutter off one ladder to Sky on the other like he did to Cody Rhodes, but Sky countered and hit a cutter of his own that drove Guevara to the mat. Scorpio Sky pulled a barbed wire wrapped ladder from under the ring and went to slam Guevara onto it, but Guevara hit a standing Spanish fly on it instead.

Guevara grabbed Dan Lambert and pulled him into the ring, but Lambert rightly pointed out that Guevara should have focused on the title. Tay Conti came in and low blowed Lambert, which brought Paige VanZant down to ringside, who brawled with Conti. Conti and Guevara managed to nail their opponents with pump kicks, but Sky hit Guevara with flatliner after Guevara went for the barbed wire wrapped ladder.

Sky went to climb the ladder again, but Tay Conti jumped on his back. Guevara started to climb but VanZant jumped on his back and both women brawled while on the backs of Sky and Guevara. They both got knocked off eventually, and Guevara shoved Sky off the ladder. Sky shoved the ladder over and Guevara crashed into the barbed wire ladder. Guevara made one last attempt to climb the ladder, but Sky finally knocked him off one last time and grabbed the TNT Championship.

Result: Scorpio Sky

Rating: ****1/4

This was an excellent ladder match that saw Scorpio Sky walk out looking like one of the biggest heroes in the company. AEW did a fantastic job pivoting and making The Men of the Year babyfaces while turning Guevara and Conti heel. This worked at every level, and Sky got a massive reaction as he held the TNT title above his head/

Frankie Kazarian came down to ringside to celebrate with his friend, and Sky indicated that he would keep his promise and give Kazarian the first shot at the title when the show went off the air.

Show Rating: ****

This was an excellent edition of AEW Dynamite that saw some great matches, and a lot of good angles to advance all the major stories. Scorpio Sky winning the TNT Championship to the delight of the crowd sent everyone home happy, and it left me satisfied as well. This was an excellent pro wrestling show.