Sting & Darby Allin vs 2.0 (Matt Lee and Jeff Parker)
The show begins with Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston making their way out for an announcement, but they are jumped in the crowd by Daniel Garcia and 2.0 who beat them down. 2.0 hit the ring and call out Sting and Darby who make their entrances. Sting receives a huge ovation from the Houston audience.
There is a lot of brawling in the crowd to open the match as 2.0 and Garcia take the advantage with the extra man. There are some crazy Darby spots including being propelled by 2.0 headfirst into a concrete ceiling, and then Darby diving from an elevated section and taking out Garcia, Lee and Parker. Eddie Kingston makes his way back out and to even the odds as he and Garcia fight their way to the back. The two teams make their way back to the ringside area. 2.0 hit a double suplex to Darby on his skateboard on the ramp taking him out as they turn their attention to Sting.
There’s a table that is set up in the ring and after beating Sting down for a bit, 2.0 powerbomb him through the table for a cool spot. Sting fires right back up to a big pop, hits a double Scorpion Death Drop to both men before finishing them both with a double Scorpion Death Lock to get the submission win. This was a fun way to the open the show. Sting once again looked good despite his age, and it was another good showcase for 2.0.
Winners: Sting & Darby Allin
Sammy Guevara vs Shaun Spears
There’s a video of Sammy Guevara’s major announcement from earlier in the night. He proposes to his girlfriend in the middle of the ring, and she says yes. We then cut to Shaun Spears and Tully Blanchard in the back hyping up the upcoming match. Shaun says that Sammy’s fiancé can be in The Pinnacle, but she will be the one on ‘top.’
Spears attacks Sammy during Sammy’s entrance and the two immediately begin fighting. Sammy dives off the stage taking Spears out and proceeds to kiss his fiancé who is watching on in the front row. There’s an assisted piledriver to Sammy by Spears with Tully helping by spiking him on the outside. Sammy sells the injury to his neck and whether he can continue but makes it into the ring where the match now officially begins.
Tully is ejected by referee Aubrey Edwards and Spears takes control of the match by targeting Sammy’s neck. As Sammy would look to fire back with offense, The Chairman would shut it down as he looked to keep the momentum. Sammy is eventually able to fight back and at one point grabs a steel guard rail from under the ring and sets it up between the edge of the ring and guard rail on the outside.
Both men trade some big moves from the top turnbuckle with Sammy hitting a cutter and shortly after Shaun Spears with the avalanche C4. There’s a big moment in the match where Sammy sends Spears crashing though the rail he set up earlier with a Death Valley Driver. Back in the ring, Sammy hits a spectacular 630 splash which was a nice call back to the finish of Stadium Stampede, but Spears kicks out for a big near fall.
The ending comes when Guevara pulls his kneepad down and uses the exposed knee to viciously strike Spears in the head. This is then followed up with a GTH that proves to be too much for The Chairman to kick out. Sammy with the win in his hometown. This was a great match. Both men with fought with an intensity that made you believe they were bitter rivals. It was another standout performance from Sammy Guevara coming off his match with MJF earlier in the year and proves that he has the tools to be a major star in AEW.
Winner: Sammy Guevara
Interview backstage with new Impact World Champion Christian which is interrupted by Don Callis. Callis brings up his history with Christian and how it was him that brought Christian into the business while also running him down saying how he isn’t going to be good enough for Kenny, but at least he will get a five-star match. Christians cuts a similar promo to the one on Rampage where he is in Kenny’s head and calls Don Callis a ‘carny piece of shit’ again.
Video package featuring Donte Martin which highlights his match from last week. He spoke with confidence and mentions how he is going to better next time he is in the ring with Omega.
Tony is in the ring with the returning Dan Lambert of American Top Team. He is accompanied by Andrei Arlovski and Junior Santos. Lambert speaks about how AEW tried to ‘cancel’ him by sending out Lance Archer the last time he was in their ring. He then cuts a similar promo the one before attacking the AEW roster and its fanbase. Archer then makes his way up but is ambushed on the stage by Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky.
Backstage promo with Chris Jericho hyping up the main event. He mentions how he has the momentum heading into the match and that each fan in Houston will sing Judas tonight.
AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express
The Young Bucks are accompanied to the ring with Brandon Cutler, Gallows and Anderson. Don Callis is on commentary. Jungle Boy with a lot of fire in the opening of the match as he shows of his high-flying ability. Eventually The Young Bucks are able to slow the match down and isolate him to their side of the ring.
The Bucks are in control for a while until Jungle Boy fights back and makes the hot tag to Luchasaurus who comes in and starts cleaning house and changing the momentum of the match. Luchasaurus hits both Jacksons with some of his impressive striking. Jungle Boy is eventually tagged back into the match and is hit with an Indie Taker that he kicks out of.
Kenny Omega make his way down the ring wearing a ‘chick magnet’ t-shirt. He slides a chair into the ring but Christian is out next and he and Omega begin fighting up the ramp and to the back. We get a similar part of the match to the Kenny vs Christian match from Rampage, where the Young Bucks have a chair set up in the ring which Matt is looking to put Jungle Boy though it as the rest of The Elite has the referee distracted.
Jungle Boy counters Matt and suplexes him on the chair. Jurassic Express hit the Thurassic Express, but the Young Bucks survive. The Bucks end up hitting the BTE Trigger to Jungle Boy to pick up the win and retain the AEW Tag Team Titles in a fun tag team match.
Post-match we see Gallows and Omega bring Christian back out to the ring. The Elite deliver a beat down to Christian and Jurassic Express with Don Callis getting in a cheap shot to Christian. Kenny delivers a One-Winged Angel to his challenger and does a mock pinfall for the three count. The Elite pose on the stage as the fallen Christian and Jurassic Express recover in the ring.
Winners: The Young Bucks
Backstage with Tony Schiavone as he interviews AEW Women’s Champion Dr Britt Baker and her backup, Jamie Hayter. They talk about their friendship with Jamie Hayter challenging Red Velvet to a match next week. They finish off with the D.M.D. signature with everyone doing it except for Jamie Hayter. Britt Baker says it’s something she will eventually learn.
There’s a video recapping the Matt Hardy vs Orange Cassidy & Best Friends feud. It sets up a match between Hardy and Cassidy for next week’s Dynamite.
Tony Schiavone is in the ring for an interview with Paul White. Tony thanks Paul for defending him. The Giant talks about how good it felt being physical in the ring again and is about to make big announcement only to be interrupted by QT Marshall with Aaron Solow and Nick Comoroto by his side. QT brings up the surgeries to Paul White over the past year and half, showing some photos of them on the big screen and how he isn’t in shape to compete. Paul White reveals that Tony Khan has signed a match and it will be him against QT at All Out.
Jade Cargill and Mark Sterling promo with Jade agreeing to a match with Kiera Hogan for this week’s Rampage.
Tony Schiavone interviews The Elite. He makes the announcement that there is going to be a four-team elimination tournament with the winners getting a Tag Team Title shot at All out. The tournament will feature the Lucha Brothers, Varsity Blondes, Private Party and Jurassic Express and the match at All Out will take place inside a steel cage. The Elite aren’t impressed.
Taz and Hook are in the ring. They introduce the FTW Champion Ricky Starks to the stage. Ricky calls out Brian Cage for a face to face, man to man confrontation. We cut backstage where it’s all a ruse as Powerhouse Hobbs attacks Brian Cage. Cage begins to fight back as Ricky runs away with a worried look on his face.
Interview with Death Triangle. Andrade interrupts them and says that if Pac wants a match with then he must agree to Andrade’s conditions.
Thunder Rosa vs Penelope Ford
Thunder Rosa comes out to a thunderous reaction (pun intended) waving the Texan Flag and dressed in the Texas colours. They begin with neither getting the advantage until the match spills to the outside and Ford nails Rosa with a big cutter on the outside mat.
Penelope has control during the commercial break. This match was okay but wasn’t really clicking with me until they come back from commercial break. It picks up a bit when Thunder Rosa makes a near fall after a butterfly suplex to Ford. We get some good counter wrestling with both exchanging submission moves.
There’s the Muta Lock by Ford that she has been using recently to win matches on Dark Elevation, a single leg crab from Rosa but Ford escapes it and Thunder Rosa spinning Ford around with a fireman’s carry into a Death Valley driver. They trade some more submission moves with Rosa eventually getting one locked in for the tap out win.
I thought they wrestled a good match towards the end. Thunder Rosa is future Women’s Champion in AEW and at some point they will revisit the feud with Britt Baker. Penelope Ford is underrated and someone with a lot of talent. The big problem with the Women’s division is not the talent, but the lack of compelling stories outside of the title picture. Ford vs Rosa could be a great match on a big show if they were given some time to build to it.
Winner: Thunder Rosa
There’s a recap of Malaki Black’s destruction since arriving in AEW. This then leads to an interview backstage with Arn Anderson and his son Brock. Arn talks about how dangerous Black is and that Bock should reconsider about going through with the match. Brock says that he respects his dad but is not going to step down from the challenge. The match is scheduled to take place next week.
We get a video featuring the TNT Champion. Miro mentions how it’s time for Eddie Kingston to come face to face with The Redeemer.
Jon Moxley backstage promo talking about his upcoming match against Daniel Garcia for Rampage on Friday. He also runs down Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and Christian and reminds everyone how it was him that was carrying AEW during the pandemic.
Main Event: Chris Jericho vs MJF
MJF is out first. Chris Jericho makes his way out without his theme music. The Houston crowd sing along to Judas and do a good job with it, however, I thought by not having Judas played it took away from the big match feel a little bit. Storylines purpose it made sense and was a heelish thing for MJF to do and it made for a nice moment for the live audience.
The crowd are hot for this from the beginning. Both men are going back and forth, and they make their way outside of the ring. MJF mocking Jericho by pulling something out of his playbook when he grabs the ringside camera and sticks his finger up at the audience. As he is moving the camera around, he comes face to face with Chris Jericho who has recovered and punches MJF in the face for a cool looking spot if you were watching on TV.
MJF gets in a cheap shot and starts working on the injured arm of Chris Jericho which also includes MJF biting at Jericho’s fingers. Jericho tries getting himself back into the match and hits a big double sledge from the top turnbuckle. MJF takes away the momentum with a judo throw to Jericho’s bad arm and sending him into the bottom turnbuckle. This is followed up with a foot stomp from the top to Jericho’s bad arm. Jericho fights back again and ends up hitting a Lionsault for a near fall. Jericho with some more offense which leads to a hurricanrana from the top turnbuckle.
They begin trading their submission finishers with MJF attempting the Salt of the Earth and Jericho with The Walls. They at one point get into a fist fight as they trade shots before it breaks down with both throwing wild blows at each other. MJF with the Heat Seeker on Chris, but it only results in two count. Jericho has MJF placed in a sleeper hold but MJF while distracting the referee takes advantage with a low blow to Jericho. MJF puts Jericho into The Walls but Chris is able to escape.
The ending comes when MJF is putting on his Diamond Ring but Aubrey Edwards notices it and takes it from him. As she is giving the ring to someone outside, Jericho strikes MJF with Floyd the baseball bat. Jericho thinks about hitting MJF with the Judas Effect but realises he can’t use it. The hesitancy allows MJF to capitalise and hit Jericho with a Judas Effect and then locking in the Salt of the Earth for the submission victory in a really good main event as Dynamites goes off the air with MJF celebrating.
Winner: MJF
Overall Thoughts: the first hour was great and flew by. It dragged a bit after the Tag Team Title match where I felt we had too many back-to-back segments. It picked up again with the last two matches. But each match was good and each segment had a purpose that continued to build each story that is going on at the moment. The tease of a Miro and Eddie Kingston already has me excited, and I am looking forward to that. It’ll be interesting to see the fall out of MJF and Chris Jericho and where both men go next if a rematch at All Out doesn’t happen. The Tag Team Contenders Tournament should be fun and with the steel cage stipulation set for All Out, it makes sense with a lot of the interferences that have been happening in The Bucks matches.