It’s time for a weekly look at the best, the worst, and the weird or otherwise notable—the Hungee—from the latest episode of AEW Dynamite.
The Good
There was plenty to file under this heading from last night. I thought every match on the show was at least quite good, and a couple were great.
Claudio vs. Jericho was a great opener and gives us the fever dream of Chris Jericho, Ring of Honor World Champion. The work was intense with some very impressive spots – Jericho’s rana and the Codebreaker being countered by the pop-up European uppercuts both stuck out to me as very impressive. The cheap finish works with Jericho’s character and plays well with the on-going Daniel Garcia-Jericho storyline. There were a couple ugly spots – Jericho’s second Codebreaker wasn’t the cleanest – but the positives on this far outweighed any negatives.
The Acclaimed and Swerve in Our Glory put on a very good match that was a bit off their excellent effort at All Out. The Caster knee injury spot was a creative way to extend the match without it being directly due to more SiOG offense at the point. Keith Lee had his working shoes on for sure, with a top rope moonsault and a running rana both being very impressive. Anthony Bowens took a hell of a bump when he was tossed to the ramp.
Orange Cassidy and Pac had a solid match, but not as good as their previous match in AEW. There was still good stuff in here – Pac grabbing the rope on the Orange Punch near fall was a nice, teased finish. Pac is the best at DDT sells, too.
The women’s four way was a very fun match which I thought was one of the best recent women’s matches in AEW. Deeb woke the crowd up early by doing a very unique double pin. Athena had a unique sling shot backbreaker.
Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson had an absolutely amazing main event, with the two delivering a physically intense match that mixed brawling and technical work. This is a must see well worth everyone’s time.
There was a massive pop for Saraya’s debut. If she can go at all, this could really freshen up the division.
Also of note is the Darby vignette – I thought that was a short, fun clip that helped hype the Rampage tag match in a unique way.
The Bad
The number of cuts to MJF during the main event was absolutely absurd. This detracted from a really great match. Leading some subtlety to this angle would have been appreciated. Instead, this felt like a particularly bad moment of WWE-style production.
Britt Baker’s nose tonight. pic.twitter.com/GlLtQmldef
— Chernobyl Hobo (@ChernobylHobo) September 22, 2022
Britt Baker almost assuredly broke her nose in that Athena double slam spot, which was a damn shame. It looked like she may have landed where Athena wasn’t expecting her to on the move. This was just unfortunate.
Billy Gunn is an important part of the act, so I don’t really have a problem with him having some role in the title win, but he shouldn’t have basically set up the finish. I thought that detracted from The Acclaimed’s moment.
The Hungee
I got a good laugh out of the slight joke in the Darby pre-tape, where the body bag slid over onto his shoulder. A nice little sight gag.
If you’re going to be one of those dopes that brings your title belt to the taping for any show, don’t hold it in front of the hard cam. You’re just ruining the show for everyone watching from home.
I had completely forgotten who Trina was.
Overall rating
9/10. An excellent show worthy of the Grand Slam moniker.
Fred Morlan’s Chris Jericho’s Sports Entertainer of the Week
Bryan Danielson wins his second award in a row after a fantastic outing in the match with Jon Moxley. Both he and Mox killed it in the main event, but I’ve always been a sucker for Danielson’s work in particular.
Match Star Ratings
Chris Jericho defeated Claudio Castagnoli for the Ring of Honor World Championship: ****1/2
The Acclaimed defeated Swerve In Our Glory for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: ****
Pac defended the AEW All-Atlantic Championship against Orange Cassidy: ***3/4
Toni Storm defended the AEW Interim World Women’s Championship against Athena, Dr. Britt Baker, and Serena Deeb: ****
Jon Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship: ****3/4
You can follow Fred on Twitter at @flagrantrasslin. He just launched a podcast with Tyler Forness based on this article; the latest episode is available here.
