AEW Dynamite 11/16/2022 Match Ratings and Commentary
(Credit-AEW)
Here’s where we landed with this week’s live Dynamite from a very sedated CT. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Dynamite - 11/16/2022
Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli def. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara: ★★★
Swerve Strickland def. Anthony Bowens: ★★
Death Triangle def. Top Flight and AR Fox: ★★★
Ethan Page def. Bandido: ★★
Toni Storm def. Anna Jay to retain the AEW Interim Women’s Championship: ★
AR Fox (Credit-AEW)
Show Highlight—
AR Fox. Great to see him get his shot on the main show in AEW after all those try-hard moments in Evolve. He’s been building up his brand on Dark, much like Top Flight did, as a plucky risk-taker that’ll willingly sacrifice everything, so the pairing with Top Flight worked perfectly. His backflip a la Donald O’Connor was fantastic. Very strong trios match filled with great action.
What Worked—
Wardlow’s tope. Christ, I thought he was gonna dive over the human landing pad there. Was this this best built to get to a triple threat? No, but it’ll be a meat-slapping banger. Also a banger: Tony Schiavone’s mullet.
Britt Baker’s promo. Our group text wondered if they are going for a double turn at Full Gear. The idea Saraya is perpetrating that Britt is not a star is nuts. Britt cut such an emotional promo I thought she was breaking up. She clearly cares about wrestling and more importantly, AEW. What’s not to love about her? This is the Britt that everyone got behind when she won the belt initially. There’s money in her being a face. The only thing that was, once again with this feud, just maddeningly Cody-level tone deaf, was saying Saraya paved the ground for her to walk on. Who has ever held Paige in that high of regard? It’s putting undue pressure on Saraya to perform at an unreasonable clip this Saturday.
What Didn’t Work—
Captain Insano. The start of that video had comedy broader than a spec script not optioned by the Wayans brothers. Who in the blue hell is clamoring for that character to make a crossover into the wrestling world? Of course the rest of the video had amazing lines.
“The Hype Man.” There’s no tactful way to write this beyond being brutally honest—Alex Abrahantes is a detriment to the presentation of Death Triangle. Tony Khan has had to make some harsh shunning of wrestlers to not allow a weak link to drag down the presentation of others, and Abrahantes needs a separation from Death Triangle. The Halloween costume got taken away, but it’s still not enough.
The Elite. Those promos led you to believe they’d have something a little more inspired than the Elite just reappearing again. Certainly, they’ll carry their weight and the trios match will more than deliver in the ring, but you’d have to think this was a squandered opportunity at this point, creatively speaking, even if you don’t want to see a worked shoot or backstage shit played out in front of the camera.
Brian Cage? If you’re a big fan of Brian Cage or, you’re unfortunately Cage himself, how do you not negatively read into the total lack of acknowledgment that he’s even in the fucking tournament still? He had done a fine job since his stint in purgatory and you can’t help but think he’s going back.
Main Event promo. Rare off-night for Moxley. I’m assuming the show ran long and maybe that’s what threw him, but he seemed mumbled-mouthed even outside of the whoopsies on the PPV day. He did have some great one-liners, calling out MJF’s worked shoot summer vacation as plagiarizing Brian Pillman and shitting on the shittiest ladder match ever. Regal is looming large in this storyline, literally hovering over both men at the face off during the end like Dana White trying to squeeze in camera time at a weigh-in. There’s a litany of finishes for Full Gear, will it be Regal giving MJF the brass knux?
Show Cringe—
Bad crowd or bad audio? The audience seemed allergic to making a peep all night. As a reviewer, ethically, it’s in bad taste to shit on a crowd if they’re not doing Transphobic chants or smart fan nincompoopery, so maybe I’ll lay partial blame on the mics not picking up their responses. AEW in the past has done a mediocre job of capturing applause and crowd noise before, but Connecticut sure seemed to be napping on things, such as Bowens and Bandido, even Mox and MJF’s duel at the end seemed muted. Full Gear needed a bigger crescendo to roll into Saturday and while yes, the material was far from AEW’s standard, the crowd made every segment feel like the performers themselves lost faith in the work.
They’re back (Credit-AEW)
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