Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite on October 23.
A big title match was scheduled for this week's show with Mark Briscoe defending the ROH world title against Chris Jericho in a Ladder War match.
Here is a look at what else AEW advertised for Wednesday's episode.
- Jack Perry and Young Bucks vs. Daniel Garcia and Private Party
- Queen Aminata vs. Kamille
- Sammy Guevara vs. Shelton Benjamin
- House of Black in action
Let's take a look at what happened on this week's Dynamite.
Sammy Guevara vs. Shelton Benjamin
Tony Schiavone brought out Adam Page for an interview when the show went live in the arena. Hangman grabbed the mic from him and spoke for a moment before Colten Gunn attacked him from behind.
Juice Robinson and Jay White showed up to save Colten when Page took control. Page was limping as he escaped up the ramp and White said he will always have his number.
The first matchup this week saw MVP accompany Benjamin to the ring for his fight against Guevara. Benjamin tossed Guevara into the air with a crotch-lift suplex to establish dominance.
While The Spanish God was able to get in a little offense now and then, this was a performance designed to make Benjamin look like a dangerous competitor, and they succeeded.
Guevara is a great high-flyer and Benjamin is a talented all-around performer, so they put on a fun show for their first-ever singles match. The former TNT champion played a valiant underdog with a lot of support from the crowd, and it made Benjamin's win that much better.
After a few well-placed kicks to the face, The Gold Standard hit an exploder suplex for the win.
Result: Benjamin defeated Guevara
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Dynamite opened with a video of Jon Moxley speaking from the desert.
- The first suplex from Benjamin was nuts. He sent Guevara high into the air.
- Benjamin did a good job catching Guevara after he almost came up short on a suicide dive.
Brian Cage and Lance Archer vs. Local Talents
Fletcher came out with Don Callis to give a promo explaining why he turned on Will Ospreay. He ended up trimming most of his hair off to show he wasn't like Ospreay, but he didn't get it all, so he looked a bit manic.
Callis remained as Brian Cage and Lance Archer took on two local talents who were big guys but not as big as Cage and Archer.
This was a squash match to give the new duo an easy win. This lasted less than a minute.
Result: Cage and Archer won
Grade: Incomplete
Notable Moments and Observations
- Cage and Archer's opponents had a good look.
Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho got a second chance at the ROH World Championship when he took on Briscoe in a Ladder War match, which is a Ladder match with extra weapons around the ring. Several tables were set up and Mark threw one into the ring to get the action going.
Briscoe was busted open when The Learning Tree rammed a ladder into his face right before a commercial break.
Pro wrestling has had some iconic ladder matches across all companies, so it's tough for any of them to stand out anymore, especially if part of it is only visible during a picture-in-picture break.
Bryan Keith tried to interfere but was driven away by Rocky Romero. The Chicken put Jericho through a table with a dive off a ladder. Moments later, Big Bill came out and chokeslammed Briscoe through two tables at ringside.
Bill put Jericho on his shoulders and carried him up the ladder so he could grab the title for the win. Tomohiro Ishii showed up on the ramp but didn't attack.
This was a decent ladder match but the way it ended is going to leave a bad taste in some people's mouths.
Result: Jericho defeated Briscoe
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Jericho looked genuinely scared when Briscoe tossed a ladder over the top rope.
- The ladders they used looked significantly less stable than the usual ladders AEW uses.
- Jericho did a good job selling for Briscoe.
- It looked like Jericho hit his head on a ladder when he went through a table.
The House of Black vs. Local Talents
Adam Cole came out but was quickly interrupted by The Undisputed Kingdom. Roderick Strong said he wanted MJF first and Cole agreed. MJF gave a speech from a massage bed saying he would face one of them at Full Gear.
Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews and Brody King were in action against three local talents this week. Black wiped one of them out with a Black Mass immediately. HOB won in about two minutes.
Result: House of Black won
Grade: Incomplete
Notable Moments and Observations
- Matthews challenged Cole to a match next week. Cole and Buddy had a confrontation backstage.
Queen Aminata vs. Kamille
Kamille had her biggest test to date in AEW when she took on Queen Aminata.
The Brickhouse hit a big clothesline and was shocked when Aminata kicked out. They battled into a commercial break and it seemed like Kamille had the match in hand.
The Queen began to make a comeback as we returned. She hit a few big moves and came close to winning, but Kamille eventually regained control and won with a reverse DDT.
This match had a couple of sloppy moments that stood out, but most of what we saw was decent. Kris Statlander came out and got into a fight with The Brickhouse, but Mercedes Mone got involved and it was too much for her to overcome.
Result: Kamille defeated Aminata
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- Aminata's transition into a sunset flip did not go well.
- A few of Aminata's strikes looked pretty stiff.
The Elite vs. Daniel Garcia and Private Party
Hook revealed it was Christian Cage who attacked Taz and went after him, but Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian helped Cage take him out.
This match got started about 10 minutes before the top of the hour, but the announcers made sure to let us know there would be an overrun.
The bout was interspersed with shots of several wrestlers waiting for Moxley to show up at the arena, so there was a sense that something unexpected may happen.
Garcia and Private Party were able to secure the win when Isiah Kassidy rolled up Matthew Jackson. Brother Zay asked for a rematch for the titles and said if they lose, Private Party would split up. The Bucks agreed.
Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta attacked Private Party while Mox dragged Chuck Taylor to the ring. Orange Cassidy was too late to save Taylor from having his neck stomped in a chair.
Result: Garcia and Private Party defeated Young Bucks and Garcia
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Schiavone dancing during Private Party's entrance was funny.
- The stalemate sequence with the Bucks and Private Party was fun.
- Stokely Hathaway was watching from the crowd.
- The way Zay bounded off the ropes into a powerbomb was awesome.
The Final Word
Wednesday's Dynamite certainly had some highlights, but as a whole, this was one of the weaker episodes.
Two squash matches is bad enough, but it was how they were used that was disappointing. House of Black doesn't need to be facing jobbers, and the same can be said for Archer and Cage.
It felt like a lot of the stories addressed weren't advanced in any meaningful way beyond Hook finally figuring out who attacked his dad.
The best thing we saw all night was Benjamin vs. Guevara by a country mile. If you only watch one thing from this episode, make it this match.
Grade: C
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