AEW Dynamite 10/12/2022 Match Ratings and Commentary
Lonely suite (Credit: AEW)
Here’s where we landed with this week’s Dynamite from Toronto. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Dynamite - 10/12/2022
Luchasaurus def. “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry: ★★★
Wardlow and Samoa Joe def. QT Marshall and Nick Comoroto: ★
Swerve Strickland def. Billy Gunn: ★★
Chris Jericho def. Bryan Danielson to retain the ROH World Championship: ★★★
Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida def. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Jamie Hayter: ★★★
Orange Cassidy def. PAC to win the AEW All-Atlantic Title: ★★★★
Jurassic Express Explodes (Credit: AEW)
Show Highlight—
Orange Cassidy def. PAC. What a fun goddamn match! Who would have thought these two would have one of the best feuds in the history of AEW in terms of two guys having insane chemistry together. This match had their typical 160mph start and got the crowd roaring with PAC putting Cassidy’s hands in his pockets and mocking his superkick tee-ing up to a massive response. Great shit on the outside, with a stiff as fuck looking falcon arrow to the outside—complete with snot rocket with extra oomph!—following up with a tombstone on the top of the ramp. Orange Cassidy got his revenge with a win, PAC got his comeuppance from using the hammer, and we have a new All-Atlantic champ.
Not sure what they’ll do with Orange Cassidy as champion, but it’ll give them the ability to do something unique with his character. Orange Cassidy has certainly grown on me and he has had a tremendous 2022. He’s proven so many people wrong with his in-ring work and ability to captivate the crowd. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, that he’s undoubtedly earned, that he’ll be able to do something fresh and interesting with more screen time with his first title run.
What Worked—
Renee is All Elite! Great to see her back in wrestling officially again. I loved that Tony Schiavone was having his moment as the new Gene Okerlund, but Renee is truly the best since Gene in this role. In wrestling there’s so many faceless derps as the stick man but Renee has the credibility to bring something to each segment but not make it about herself. Can’t wait to see what she does without sociopaths screaming at her.
Hot Toronto crowd. Toronto is one of the best markets in pro wrestling, up there with Chicago for a guarantee that you’ll get a rabid crowd that pops for everything. The arena, whilst clearly smaller than the Scotiabank Arena, looked great on television with that longer than normal entrance way giving the show a grander feel. Once the world gets back to normal, AEW can expand into the Canadian market and have fantastic sites to select for big shows.
Luchasaurus shall not be Jannetty-ed. It was an upset in some regards to see Luchasaurus go over, and while I was afraid that Jungle Boy’s stock would go up and Luchasaurus would lose his value completely after they split, it seems like there’s going to be an investment in him still and the Jurassic Express explosion will be ongoing while Christian rehabs his shoulder. Luchasaurus can pull off the Kane archetype well and his enhanced look and entrance gives him a great heel vibe. And after another loss and some soul-searching, with the right promos and vignettes, Jungle Boy can transition into Jack Perry fully to defeat the dinosaur and the dickhead.
QT Marshall. Guy’s such a pro. He can never win a match again and the audience will always want to see him get his ass whooped.
More shades of MJF. Christ, what a great performer MJF really is. He’s given a throwaway backstage segment and he can weave layers. MJF hinted that he could be a face again by setting up future tensions with Stokely to know his role, and to end the segment, MJF fired gold when he said that he hates himself to be the guy he has to be to win. Not to create a false equivalency, as they were telling different stories, but damn, MJF can pull off a guy with mental health and identity issues with one line, in one segment, almost as richly as Hangman did with his run as anxious millennial cowboy from 2019 to 2021. Genius.
Hangman fires live rounds. Adam Page must have saw that MJF segment and knew he had to bring his A-gam to re-establish his character’s pathos and the credibility of him beating Mox. Hangman talked about being depressed, not sleeping, his medicine not working, but still showing up in a moment that will be added to his career highlight reel. It’s amazing how simple and effective wrestling can be. You don’t have to have guys doing silly ass stunts and crashing cars and destroying property in a segment that’s going to cost tens of thousands in production costs to make something seem weighty—you give great artists microphones let them pour their souls out.
Show layout. Simple thing, but I loved having Jericho and Danielson go in the second segment of the second hour, hinting that the match could go long.
Women’s tag wrestling. The women’s division is rehabbing itself right now with strong tag matches each week on Dynamite. These are the right combinations of wrestlers. Some, myself included, just want to see Hayter get her belt and big moment and are weary if the payoff will be so stifled it’ll lose all meaning, but Shida as a challenger for Toni will be a wonderful feud before Full Gear.
What Didn’t Work—
The Modern Butcher? I’m always a fan of a guy evolving his gimmick but doesn’t he look weird with a jersey on? The Butcher is supposed to look like Boss Tweed hired him to be his personal goon to box the ears of snooping Protestants.
Shawn Spears and Wardlow are cool how? Don’t get me wrong, Shawn Spears being back on TV is a beautiful thing. When people ponder about what things are missing from AEW, it’s wrestlers like Shawn Spears that glue their shows together. Wanted to see more in the first face-to-face between Wardlow and Spears to give some sort of logic behind why Wardlow wouldn’t to rip Spears’s head off for all the things he did previously. I’m sure an explanation will come, and Spears will make it right.
Show Cringe—
Daniel Garcia swerve, bro. Daniel Garcia got over by being a wrestler. Anything else is going to be a back-step and will cool-off his momentum he’s earned by continuing to be this reluctant, mopey part of JAS. AEW doesn’t do these Kane/Big Show-like flip-flopping of turns so when it’s done, it’s either gonna land or bomb, and this one was a stinker. The aim and intentions were in the right place to give Garcia a longform arc, but this is unfurling more and more like Garcia will be in mid-card purgatory from a disappointing denouement.
Welcome back (Credit: AEW)
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