AEW Dynamite: Owen Hart Tourney Qualifiers, Purrazzo vs. Martinez

This episode of AEW Dynamite comes right out of ROH territory in Baltimore, including in a building they have run before, and featured Owen Hart Foundation Tournament qualifiers, and a ROH Women’s World Championship match.

The show opened with Adam Cole joining the commentary desk for the opening match of the show.

Jeff Hardy w/ Matt Hardy vs. Bobby Fish (The Undisputed Elite) w/ Kyle O’Reilly

Bobby Fish wasted no time in the match going after the knee of Jeff Hardy, working over it for the first several minutes of the match, including a dragon screw legwhip into the guardrail on the outside of the ring. Darby Allin was seen in the rafters with Sting, observing his competition in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament.

Fish hit a back suplex on Hardy but Hardy was able to come back a few minutes later with a Manhattan drop and a leg drop. Fish kicked out at 2. Hardy went for the Swanton Bomb, but Fish cut him off and hit a falcon arrow from the top rope and transitioned to a kneebar as Hardy kicked out. Hardy made it to the ropes to escape.

Hardy managed to hit Whisper in the Wind and then took Fish across the ring and hit the Swanton Bomb to pin Bobby Fish.

Result: Jeff Hardy

Rating: ***

Solid opening match here, but you wouldn’t guess that Bobby Fish is 46 years old and Jeff Hardy is 44 by how they move. Fish moves like a man in his early 30s, whereas Hardy has had a very rough career in terms of bumps taken. The Young Bucks came down to check on Bobby Fish, but came face to face with the Hardys as the Baltimore fans chanted for the Bucks the way ROH fans did.

An edited version of the video about the Blackpool Combat Club that originally aired on Twitter aired here and it was just as great. Regal’s narration of the video was fantastic.

The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, & Wheeler Yuta) vs. The Andrade Family Office (Butcher, Blade, & Angelico)

Butcher attacked Moxley right away and it broke down into a brawl. Angelico was eager to lock up with Danielson, and soon had him in a submission, but Danielson fought out and hit a series of kicks. Yuta tagged in, bent the elbow of Angelico, and started punching it, which I loved. Yuta went right after Blade and Butcher, but Blade tripped Yuta, allowing Butcher to hit a crossbody.

Butcher and Blade worked over Yuta for a few minutes, beating on him relentlessly until Yuta was able to German suplex Butcher for a huge pop. Moxley tagged in and immediately started throwing Blade all around ringside, over tables, into the stairs, and it seemed Blade spent more time in the air upside down than on his feet. Danielson, Yuta, and Moxley began hitting their 3-men destruction spots on the whole group before Danielson submitted Angelico with a triangle choke.

Result: The Blackpool Combat Club

Rating: ***

This was awesome. I love the way the BCC wrestles, and this was fantastic. It looks like they are out to go to war every single time they come to the ring, and this was no exception. I can’t wait for Wheeler Yuta in NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors.

Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs were backstage and talked about how they wanted to challenge for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. And the Jurassic Express interrupted to accept on the condition that Starks defends the FTW Championship against Jungle Boy, and Starks accepted for next week.

Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee were backstage talking about how they had unfinished business Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks.

By design, Wardlow was walked down to the ring by security guards Goldberg style without his music, and the crowd chanted his name like Goldberg’s name. This was perfect.

MJF came out with Shawn Spears, and introduced the opponent for Wardlow this week before going backstage. William Morrissey (The former Big Cass) made his way down to the ring to take on MJF.

Wardlow defeated William Morrissey

Wardlow demonstrated his power by picking Morrissey up and driving him back to the corner. Morrissey responded with clubbing blows to the back of Wardlow. The fans chanted “We want Enzo!” while many chanted “No we don’t” and Morrissey told them off for doing so before taking over the match back in the ring. Wardlow hit a moonsault off the top rope and then managed to pick up Morrissey and powerbomb him for the finish.

Rating: **

Result: Wardlow

Don’t let the star rating deter you from this match. It was an excellent way to advance the story between MJF and Wardlow, and Wardlow is perfect in this role. MJF sent all the security guards in the building and Wardlow killed them all, one by one, before doing an Awesome bomb on one guy over the top rope.

MJF grabbed a mic and said he would do a match with Wardlow and if Wardlow could win the match, he would release him from his contract, but that the match would have conditions attached to it. MJF said that he would present the contract in Long Island new Wednesday. The crowd was going nuts for Wardlow throughout this, which was fantastic.

Hangman Page came down to the ring for an interview with Tony Schiavone to discuss his main event match defending the AEW World Championship against CM Punk at AEW Double or Nothing in a few weeks. Hangman said that it would easy for him to say it would be an honour to have a great match against CM Punk at AEW Double or Nothing, but Page said he wasn’t going to do that. He was going to fight and destroy CM Punk.

Page told the fans that Punk wasn’t there tonight, and heeled a bit on him, promising that the fan near ringside wearing the CM Punk shirt would run back to the merch stand for a refund if they haven’t burned it yet.

Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt were backstage, wondering why AEW was rolling out the red carpet for Konosuke Takeshita but not for Singh. Good promo here.

Chris Jericho w/ The Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Santana w/ Ortiz

Jericho spent the early parts of the match brawling with Ortiz, but was able to use that to his advantage with hitting the springboard dropkick and sending Santana into the stairs and various other things around ringside. Santana hit Jericho hard while he was on the top rope, and Jericho look legit rocked.

Jericho yelled “I’m a winner!” as he hit a catapult into the ropes. Jericho missed a corner charge but soon ended up on the top rope with Santana looking for a superplex. Santana hit a headbutt on Jericho and then nailed a frog splash for a 2-count. Jericho locked on the Walls of Jericho. Santana rolled backwards into a stunner for a 2-count on Jericho.

Ortiz took the bat, Floyd, from 2point0 and laid them out with it, and Santana took Hager off the apron before hitting a cannonball in the corner on Jericho, but the referee got distracted by Ortiz and the JAS brawling and Jericho low blowed Santana and hit the Judas Effect for the win.

Result: Chris Jericho

Rating: ***1/4

Really solid match here between Santana and Jericho, with a good post match angle that saw the JAS laying out Santana and Ortiz as the numbers game came into play again. It seems like we are going to need two more people to even up the odds once Eddie Kingston recovers from the fireball thrown by Jericho.

The Varsity Blonds and Julia Hart were in the ring to call out the House of Black. Julia Hart noticeably had a significant amount of black makeup beneath her eyepatch. Pillman claimed that he was fired up to keep his group together, and that he wasn’t going to let the House of Black tear them apart.

The lights went out, and the House of Black’s music hit and they made their way down to the ring. The Blonds both got between the House of Black and Julia Hart, standing off against each other, but the House was just smiling and they attacked each other. Hart stood in the corner watching intently as the House of Black destroyed Pillman and Garrison.

Black came face to face with Hart, and she looked scared, shaking, but Buddy Matthews took her by the shoulders and she smiled, and Brody King handed her a chair. Hart hesitated with the chair, and shook in fear again, and black ripped her eyepatch off, but we couldn’t see her eye, and as Black was speaking to her, she covered her eye and The Death Triangle made their way down to the ring to save her. This was compelling, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

A video aired of Jade Cargill and the Baddies as they hyped themselves up about their recent success. The camera cut back to the ring with Fenix preparing to face Dante Martin as Julia Hart left the ring covering her eye, but looking enraged and scared all at once.

Rey Fenix (The Death Triangle) w/ Penta el Zero M & Alex Abrahantes vs. Dante Martin

To say these guys worked fast would be an understatement and they went into a series of pinfall attempts right away. Martin kept countering Fenix until he could hit a Canadian Destroyer and then a tope suicida on the floor. Fenix hit a springboard sole butt and then backflipping Russian legsweep which I have never seen before.

Martin floated over to avoid an attack from Fenix and kicked him off the turnbuckle before hitting a big high crossbody for a 2-count. Fenix hit a hurricanrana and as Martin kicked out, Fenix was sent to the floor. Fenix missed a kick, but sent Martin back into the ring before hitting Martin with a powerbomb into a popup cover for a 2-count.

Martin went for a Blackfire Driver, but Martin rolled out and hit a superkick before going to the top rope. Fenix cut him off with a chop. Fenix went for the inverted second rope Russian legsweep again, but both men landed on their feet, to a roar from the crowd. Martin went for the Nosedive but Fenix ran underneath him and hit with a Welcome to Asbury Park that would make Bam Bam Bigelow cringe for the win.

Result: Rey Fenix

Rating: ****1/4

This was a tremendous match, as Fenix advanced to the tournament with the brackets being announced right after the match, with one noticeable spot left open for the Joker, a surprise entrant, who will face Samoa Joe.

Thunder Rosa came out with her title, and said she originally came to AEW to elevate women’s wrestling, but with all the hard work she put in, she was able to become the AEW World Women’s Champion. Rosa said that she wanted to wrestle the best competitors in the world, and continue to elevate the decision.

Rosa called out the number 1 contender, Serena Deeb, claiming years ago she drove up the California coast to see one wrestler only, implying it was Deeb. Deeb said that she respected Rosa, and that between the both of them they could make it the best division in the world, but for that to happen, she needed to win the AEW World Women’s championship.

Deeb said that she was on another level, and that she was in a class on her own, and it was time for her to take the championship and prove it. Deeb was betting Rosa would have the shortest championship reign in history, because at AEW Double or Nothing she was taking the championship from her. Nice little promo segment here to setup the match, and it worked well as two people who want to prove they are the best in the world.

Mercedes Martinez vs. Deonna Purrazzo for the Undisputed ROH Women’s World Championship

Purrazzo refused the Code of Honor to start the match. As expected, this was going to be a technical wrestling match, with Purrazzo and Martinez exchanging wristlocks and headlocks. Both women were feeling each other out in the early parts of the match before Purrazzo used a classic British wrestling technical to kick the elbow of Martinez to set up the Fujiwara armbar.

Martinez hit a palm strike and a chop, but Purrazzo wrapped Martinez’s arm around the ropes and continued to work it over. Martinez managed to hit a spear on the apron, but hurt her arm as she fell to the floor after it. Martinez and Purrazzo exchanged hard forearms at rightside. The referee abided by ROH rules, counting to 20 instead of 10, as ROH follows the NJPW style of counting.

Martinez and Purrazzo exchanged hard forearms in the ring before Martinez hit two clotheslines and a Saito suplex on Purrazzo all without using her bad arm. Martinez hit a running big boot and then a floating dropkick in the corner for a 2-count. Purrazzo hit a pump kick and a moonsault press for a 2-count.

Martinez hit a fisherman’s buster for a 2-count. Martinez went for a jackknife pin, but Purrazzo countered into an armbar, but Martinez countered out and eventually hit a curb stomp and a surfboard stretch. Martinez transitioned this into a dragon sleeper and managed to score the submission over Purrazzo for the win to unify the ROH Women’s World Championship.

Result: Mercedes Martinez

Rating: ***1/4

This was a solid technical match that the crowd did appreciate, but by the nature of the match, it did not have much heat. That said, it was still a fun match that firmly established the ROH Women’s World Championship as an important title, and one that is often contested with a technical style.

Show Rating: ***

Not the best episode of AEW Dynamite, but everything on this show was very solid. The smaller building they were in could have contributed to some more muted crowd response in a few moments, but the crowd seemed eager to enjoy the show from start to finish, being there throughout, including politely clapping and applauding loudly for the main event. There were no boring chants, so I suspect that they enjoyed it in a way more akin to an ROH Pure title bout. Very solid episode of AEW Dynamite as AEW Double or Nothing draws closer and the matches become clearer and clearer.