Homecoming, Not Quite
The music of MJF hits and the crowd pop for their hometown hero making his triumphant return, except everyone is trolled as it’s CM Punk that appears instead. Immediately Punk was coming out to play more of a heel.
It was fun seeing Punk going up against the crowd again and we are reminder of his heel potential and when the timing is right in AEW, a full-on Punk heel run will be great.
Punk throws many jabs at the Long Island faithful including shots against their beloved Islanders being constant losers, mentioning how Chicago is a better audience, all while doing it in a playful manner that made the crowd dislike him even more.
Punk compares MJF to Dennis Rodman and how Punk never liked him until Rodman came to Chicago and became their guy, and he understands that MJF is Long Island’s guy.
There was also a point where he reveals he is wearing a four pillars t-shirt except on his shirt MJF is replaced by Britt Baker and mentions how its genuine praise when he talks about Britt’s accolades, yet MJF has to make a sexual connection to it.
There was a lot more to the promo, but it ultimately leads to Punk challenging MJF to a singles match and that it will essentially be a number one contender’s match as Punk heavily hinted at a future World Title shot at either Danielson or Hangman Page.
Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale
They aired a great video package featuring MJF as they hype up his proper homecoming. This time MJF does come out to his music and receives a huge ovation. MJF mocks Punk’s Chicago entrance.
The battle royale featured MJF, Matthew Hardy, Wardlow, Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal, Powerhouse Hobbs, Lio Rush, Dante Martin, Lee Moriarty, Ricky Starks, Kazarian and Lee Johnson.
I enjoyed that it wasn’t an overcrowded battle royale and while it wasn’t anything too special, the match had some standout moments and advanced various storylines.
Some of the highlights included MJF playing a chickenshit heel that would hide behind Wardlow and then would take cheap shots at his opponents, but being in Long Island, every time he would do it, he would receive a big cheer.
They had a battle of the big men when Hobbs went at it with Wardlow, Matt Hardy used the brass knuckles to knock out Lethal and eliminate him, MJF tosses out Johnson, Lio Rush, and Wardlow much to the frustration of Wardlow.
It eventually comes down to the final three which is MJF, Ricky Starks and Dante Martin. Martin swerves Starks and eliminates him as he rips off the Team Taz armband and throws it away. Next week it’ll be MJF vs Dante for the ring.
Post-match, Starks is beating down Dante Martin as MJF is walking up the ramp. MJF stops and looks around and thinks about running back for the save. He teases it a few times, before running back down as the crowd cheer. He hits the ring, and it looks like he and Starks about to go toe-to-toe, however, instead both men start beating poor Dante.
It leads to Punk coming down for the save as MJF escapes and Starks takes a GTS.
I wasn’t a big fan of how they did the swerve with Dante, but I do look forward to the match with him against MJF.
Varsity Blondes & Jurassic Express vs The Acclaimed & 2.0
The four teams had a fun match but nothing that stood out. It was more of a showcase, especially for 2.0, The Acclaimed and Varsity Blondes, while giving Jurassic Express another win to keep their momentum going.
I thought Bowens looked good in the match and he has been someone I have been impressed with in recent times.
The ending saw Daniel Garcia try to get involved but Eddie Kingston runs down and takes him out. It leaves Max Caster in the ring with Jungle Boy. Caster attempts the Mic Drop but fails to do so as Jungle Boy finishes off by putting him in the Snare Trap and getting the submission victory.
As the match ends, Kingston tells the cameraman to follow him backstage. Eddie is cutting a promo but due to technical issues we can’t hear a word of it. But he looked angry and fired up as Ortiz was by his side trying to calm down. 2.0 and Daniel Garcia appear, and a brawl erupts which leaves Kingston and Ortiz down and out.
Even though we couldn’t hear what Eddie was saying, the chaotic nature of still made it work for me. I’m assuming we might be getting Kingston reuniting with Santana & Ortiz against Garcia & 2.0.
Young Bucks vs Chuck Taylor & Rocky Romero
This reminded me of a Young Bucks match from their days in the IWGP Junior Heavyweight division, and they made reference to the Chaos and Bullet Club rivalry throughout the last decade.
I feel like with most Bucks matches you’re either a fan or not, and if you’re a fan then I think you enjoy this match quite a lot and if you aren’t a fan then you’re probably not going to find it that good.
The four men in the ring have great chemistry together and have shared the ring with each other in various combinations many, many times so it was match where mostly everything clicked and they fed off each other well.
They had Orange Cassidy get involved and for the second straight week I thought he came off looking a bit like a fool. Rocky Romero had another great performance, and I am hoping we get to see more of him whether it’s singles action or more tag team wrestling.
They did a spot where Brandon Cutler accidentally sprays Matt in the eyes with the cold spray. It ended with The Bucks hitting Romero with the Meltzer Drive for the win.
The heels continue to beat down on the Best Friends post-match. Wheeler Yuta runs out for the failed save attempt. It all builds up the theme of the Best Friends playing and then the reveal of Sue driving her minivan out into the arena. Trent steps out and charges the ring to make the big save and looking like a badass with his Jon Moxley inspired new look.
The Best Friends give the people as the embrace in the ring.
Jamie Hayter vs Riho
This was probably my match of the night. Riho gets criticism because of her size, but her size makes her a captivating character in my opinion. She’s the ultimate underdog and when put in a match with someone that is far bigger it creates the David and Goliath dynamic which I usually always find entertaining to watch.
Hayter is great at playing the power game. The spot where she catches Riho diving on the outside and then ramming her into the ring post is simple but effective, and immediately creates a ring story with Hayter working over the back of Riho.
We get a match where Riho is trying her best to survive the power onslaught from Jamie Hayter and having to use every trick in the book and some new ones to come up away with the victory.
Riho is able to tap into that fighting spirt and shows her resiliency against the more dominate opponent. She busts out some of her signature moves including the double foot stomp for a two count, and a nice-looking dragon suplex.
The ending came with Riho hitting running knee finisher on Hayter to pickup the pinfall victory and continue building momentum to her eventual Women’s Title match against Britt Baker.
Speaking of the Doctor, Britt hits the ring after the match and put Riho in the Lockjaw as Riho taps out.
Other Segments
- Malakai Black interrupted a Varsity Blondes interviewed and sprayed the mist in Julia Hart’s eyes.
- Sammy Guevarra was interrupted by Cody Rhodes. Cody challenges him for the TNT Title at Christmas Rampage and teases he is going to leave through the heel entrance but backtracks to the face entrance.
- Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky mention that Dan Lambert will be back soon. They also run-down Sammy and it looks like we are also getting a Sammy vs Scorpio match soon.
- A video package hyping up Hikaru Shida vs Serena Deeb. I like heel Serena and I’m looking forward to their next match.
- Tully Blanchard and FTR announced they’ll be competing against the Lucha Brothers on Rampage.
- Ruby Soho is interrupted in an interview by The Bunny and Penelope Ford. They mock Soho so a fight breaks out. Nyla Rose joins for the three on one until Anna Jay and Tay Conti make the save.
Bryan Danielson vs John Silver
This was a match I had high expectations for, and they didn’t deliver, but not in a negative way. My mind raced away and assumed we would get a fifteen-minute back-and-forth classic, but this was similar to most of the Dark Order matches.
And that’s how it should be. The story is to show how dangerous Bryan Danielson is and maybe someday in the future we get a more competitive match between the two but now wasn’t the time.
With that being said they still gave Silver the most out of all the Dark Order members and showed that he isn’t someone that should be taken lightly in the ring. It was a hard-hitting fight and we got to see Johnny Hungy fire up and take it to Danielson at one point in the match.
Ultimately, Bryan would have enough and put Silver down with a Gotch style piledriver before choking him out for the win.
Bryan grabs the mic and talks about how he kicked the head in of Evil Uno, Colt Cabana, Allan Angels and now he is going to kick in Silver’s head. He starts attacking Silver until Adam Page runs down and the two get physical. Bryan retreats and Page tells him that he is going to beat the shit out of him at Winter is Coming as Dynamite goes off the air.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed the women’s match and the tag team match. Punk playing the heel was fun, seeing MJF loved by the fans was cool. They did a good job setting up everything up for next week’s Winter is Coming Dynamite and the Shida vs Deeb, Dante vs MJF and Danielson vs Hangman all have the potential to deliver great matches.