Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday before WrestleDream this weekend.
Here is a look at what All Elite Wrestling advertised for this week's show at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington:
- Mercedes Moné vs. Emi Sakura (NJPW Strong and TBS titles)
- Britt Baker vs. Willow Nightingale (No. 1 Contender's match)
- Komander vs. Hologram
- Wheeler Yuta and Bryan Danielson vs. PAC and Claudio Castagnoli
- Jay White appearance
- Hook calls out Taz's attacker
Let's take a look at what happened on this week's show.
Hologram vs. Komander
Moxley opened with a promo directed at Danielson and claimed he has been looking for a person who can end his career, and Mox is that man.
Danielson gave a separate response before we went to the arena for Darby Allin's entrance.
Allin called out Brody King and talked about their past as friends on the indie scene. He took credit for getting King hired at AEW.
King said Allin had a death wish and they got into a fight that was broken up by security. We also saw Jake Roberts move Lance Archer to Don Callis for a "surprise" trade.
The first match of the night paired two of AEW's best luchadors together for a singles bout. Komander and Hologram began with a simple but fast-paced exchange of counters that kept both men on their toes.
This bout brought back memories of WCW's cruiserweight division. It was just two luchadors going out there and putting on a banger. It doesn't need to be deeper than that because their athleticism is the draw.
This is one of those "You just need to watch it" matches because no recap can properly capture how wildly talented these guys are.
Hologram scored the win and got a standing ovation.
Rush, Dralistico and The Beast Mortos attacked both men as Roberts looked on from the stage.
Result: Hologram defeated Komander
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- The subtle background music during Moxley's promo was great. It added to the vibe.
- The audio during Danielson's promo had a weird echo.
- King was busted open when Allin hit him with a rock.
- The way Hologram hit a suicide dive was nuts.
- The springboard hurricanrana from Komander was incredible.
Willow Nightingale vs. Saraya vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Nyla Rose
Mark Briscoe delivered a serious interview in which he promised to hurt Chris Jericho.
Next up, Daniel Garcia made his way to the ring to discuss his future. He revealed he is staying with AEW and promised to take himself to a new level.
Due to illness, Baker was unable to work her scheduled match, so it was turned into a Fatal 4-Way with Willow, Saraya, Nyla Rose and Jamie Hayter.
All four seemed a little unsure of what to do at times, which is likely due to a lack of prep time. The more people you add to an impromptu contest, the more the flow will suffer.
The longer it went, the better it got, but it was impossible not to notice how awkward some moments were during the first half.
After Hayter chased Penelope Ford away, it came down to Saraya and Willow.
After surviving Saraya's finisher, Willow scored the win to earn a title shot against Mariah May.
Result: Nightingale won
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- AEW was still advertising Baker well after it would have known she wouldn't be there.
- Rose countering a powerbomb with a hurricanrana was a cool moment.
- Since there were no DQs, Cameron got involved quite a bit.
- Hayter suplexing Rose and Willow at the same time was awesome.
- Nyla took a bad tumble onto the apron. Let's hope she is alright.
Mercedes Moné vs. Emi Sakura
The Learning Tree had a talk with Rocky Romero backstage before we went back to the ring for White's return to action in a squash match against Cody Chhun.
After a couple of minutes, Switchblade got the win.
White predicted "Hangman" Adam Page would be coming for him, which is what he wants.
Result: White won
Grade: Incomplete
Moné defended both the TBS and NJPW Strong women's titles against Sakura in the next matchup.
The CEO and The Queen traded chops and strikes for a long time. It was relatively even until Moné took her out at ringside.
Kamille's presence was a factor, but most of this was a clean match. Both women looked good and developed chemistry right away.
Moné was able to win to retain her titles, but she and Kamille were about to attack when Kris Statlander showed up to make the save.
Result: Moné defeated Sakura
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- White's opponent got in more offense than expected.
- Juice Robinson pretended to pee on the jobber like a dog.
- Sakura is great at knowing when a taunt will make the crowd react.
- Moné has some great facial expressions to sell moves.
Bryan Danielson and Wheeler Yuta vs. PAC and Claudio Castagnoli
Will Ospreay and Don Callis had a confrontation that turned physical. Konosuke Takeshita attacked The Aerial Assassin until Kyle Fletcher tried to play peacemaker. Ricochet ended up saving Ospreay.
The main event got started 10 minutes before the start of the hour with Danielson and Castagnoli squaring off.
As expected, this was a high-impact fight due to Danielson's betrayal, so both he and Yuta went hard until his former Blackpool Combat Club teammates took over.
Castagnoli was hesitant to attack Yuta, but PAC didn't have the same issue. Yuta ended up spending a long time in the ring after The American Dragon sold an injury.
Mox showed up and distracted Danielson when he had control, but Danielson and Yuta still won. The American Dragon immediately went after Moxley and fought him to the back.
Marina Shafir and PAC attacked Yuta, but Claudio called them off so he could hit Yuta with a hammer. Danielson came back to the ring and took everyone out to end the show standing tall.
This was a good piece of business to push the pay-per-view.
Result: Danielson and Yuta defeated PAC and Castagnoli
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Takeshita's forearm to finish off Ospreay was nasty.
- "The Final Countdown" was used instead of Danielson's usual theme song.
- Yuta slapped the taste out of Castagnoli's mouth.
The Final Word
This week's Dynamite was affected by a change in the day and start time, but it was also impacted by Baker's illness necessitating a change to the card.
AEW doesn't always do the best job informing fans of changes like this, so airing a day early and an hour late probably led to some fans not knowing it was even on.
Most of the matches we got were the usual AEW brand of action, but the bout between Komander and Hologram stole the show.
The tag match in the main event was more of a story, but in terms of excitement, nobody is going to top two luchadors who are at the peak of physical conditioning.
WrestleDream is shaping up nicely, but AEW only has a few more days to make any changes or additions to the card, so it better act quickly.
Grade: B
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