AEW Dynamite Review — 10.18.2022 — AEW Title Tuesday
Storm vs Shida, Death Triangle vs Best Friends, Castle vs Jericho, & Moxley vs Hangman
Following a strong episode serving as AEW’s debut in Canada, featuring Chris Jericho vs Bryan Danielson III for the ROH World Championship, the return of Shawn Spears, a big women’s tag-team match with Hikaru Shida & Toni Storm vs Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter, and the AEW Debut of The Kingdom on Rampage, All Elite Wrestling would present a special Tuesday Night episode of AEW Dynamite on October 18, 2022. Going head-to-head with WWE NXT and a number of sporting events, AEW would present Title Tuesday, featuring Toni Storm vs Hikaru Shida, Best Friends vs Death Triangle, Chris Jericho vs Dalton Castle, and Jon Moxley vs Hangman Page! Did the hype around this week’s lineup deliver? That’s what we are here to find out!
So sit back, and enjoy this review of AEW Dynamite from October 18th, 2022! SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE OF AEW DYNAMITE AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Death Triangle vs Best Friends & Orange Cassidy — AEW World Trios Championship
Following the shocking ending to last week’s AEW Dynamite in Toronto, Orange Cassidy would walk into this week as the brand-new AEW All-Atlantic Champion. Ending PAC’s several month-long reign, and taking one of his two belts away, a huge Trios Title Match would be set for Title Tuesday, with Death Triangle vs Best Friends II taking place, with the AEW World Trios Championship on the line. To the surprise of nobody, this match would be given the opening slot on Dynamite.
On top of an extremely hot start, with Lucha Bros kicking things off into high gears in the early goings, we would thankfully have commentary note both Fenix and Penta’s involvement in TripleMania 30 over the past weekend. While it may not mean anything for some, it certainly was nice to hear about, especially with how high profile both of their matches were within AAA, with Fenix facing rising star, El Hijo del Vikingo and Penta winning a bloody war against Villano IV in the main event. Despite wanting to use his infamous ring bell hammer, PAC would be stopped later into the match, with hiw own teammate, Fenix preventing it allowing a roll-up. Following a failed Destroyer from Penta, Best Friends would get another big nearfall with the Strong Zero before Fenix would take control, scoring the win with a brutal piledriver on Trent. Death Triangle retain, though tensions between Fenix and PAC would be played up after the match.
My Thoughts:
This was a very strong opener, as expected with the two teams on display. Orange Cassidy is one of the biggest stars in the company, and that has become very evident in 2022. Hopefully his All-Atlantic Reign will be a memorable one with good challengers from all over the wrestling world, but that remains to be seen. Chuck and Trent are two of the best in AEW’s loaded tag-team division, and one day they may finally win gold… but that would not be tonight, something that was absolutely the right call. Death Triangle now have a bit more intrigue behind them, as we now have seen dissension between PAC and Fenix. Regardless of how or when they lose the Trios Titles, it seems clear that PAC will likely turn on the Lucha Bros, which could at the very least, be an interesting booking choice. If you didn’t watch this, I would certainly recommend checking it out somewhere online!
Following the opening match, we would get a nice video package hyping tonight’s Main Event, a first-ever match between Jon Moxley and Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship!
Britt Baker, Rebel, & Jamie Hayter would be interviewed backstage, with the two women stating that they are frankly disgusted that neither of them are AEW Interim Women’s Champion. Jamie says that by the end of 2022, one of them will be Interim Champion, while Britt says that either of them will be AEW Women’s Champion, not interim. This sends us into the next bout…
Toni Storm vs Hikaru Shida — AEW Interim Women’s World Championship
Unfortunately, AEW would not air the great clip they did for this match on Road To, but there would be a short montage of pictures showing Shida and Storm’s history in Japan. Thankfully, that would not matter for the live crowd, as to kick-off the match, the lively crowd would come to life with dueling chants for “Let’s Go Shida” and “Let’s Go Toni” with Shida controlling the early moments of the match. The Interim Champion would score a huge move heading into Picture-In-Picture however, nailing Shida “Two Belts” on the apron with a fast hip attack, giving her control during the break.
Back from break, Toni would continue to control, teasing the Avalanche Storm Zero that she used to defeat Serena Deeb a few weeks back. Hikaru Shida would escape, leveling Storm with a facebuster for a two count before looking for the Falcon Arrow. This would fail to connect, allowing Storm to score big with a nasty-looking German Suplex and a corner Hip Attack Combo. Toni would gear up for the Tornado DDT out of the corner, but Shida would block it! Looking for the Katana, Shida would fail, but Storm would miss with the Strong Zero, allowing Shida to get another big nearfall on a roll-up! Bridging German from Toni would open Shida up for the Tornado DDT, with the champion following up with the Storm Zero. Toni Storm retains the AEW Interim Women’s Championship!
After the bell, Jamie Hayter and Rebel would blindside Storm in the ring, allowing Britt Baker to come out to a rare, genuine heel reaction as she would sport a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. Saraya would arrive for back-up, as the former NXT Women’s Champion would tackle Baker at ringside, brawling with the former AEW Women’s Champion. With Hayter going to try and save Baker, RIHO WOULD MAKE HER LONG-AWAITED RETURN! The first-ever AEW Women’s Champion would take out Rebel, before taking out Jamie Hayter as well!
My Thoughts:
This was a very fun match between Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm, not only boosted by a receptive crowd, but also by a great placement on the card. The final few moments of this were quite thrilling with some great exchanges and nearfalls. Britt actually getting booed after the match was great, as was seeing Saraya get quite physical with her. The cherry on top of this would be the return of Riho, a genuine star-maker in the AEW Women’s Division who has been missed for months. She was given the big surprise return spot of the night and it felt big, something that the women’s division rarely does feel. As a whole, this was great and I really don’t have any issues with it. Toni got a huge, clean win over the longest-reigning AEW Women’s Champion, Saraya and Britt got physical, Riho returned. You love to see it.
A recap for The Kingdom’s AEW Debut would be shown, with Samoa Joe and Wardlow challenging them to step up. Samoa Joe sounded fantastically imposing in this.
Renee Paquette would then be seen backstage with FTR, the IWGP, AAA, and ROH Tag Team Champions, with Renee suggesting that FTR are once again the Number One Contenders to the AEW World Tag Team Titles. Dax says that they are the triple champions, and that they know they have the biggest target on their back, but ultimately, they want the fourth belt, with the AEW Tag Belts being their main goal. Cash says they have to be two-time tag team champions. Swerve and Keith would cut them off, with Strickland saying that after being Number One Contenders for several months, now they want to take their shot? Keith agrees, and Dax proposes a match between FTR and Swerve In Our Glory for the number one contendership… and it is set for next week!
Backstage after the commercial break, Jay Lethal would demand a rematch against Darby Allin. Sonjay would state that Darby’s weakness is known to them through a close personal friend. Allin would push the two of them, with Lethal and Dutt beating the thrill seeker backstage, going so far as to lower one of the backstage garage doors onto Darby’s ribs before locking the Figure Four Leglock on him!
MJF & William Regal
William Regal would be brought out to the ring for an interview, though he would be interrupted by MJF, who would immediately put away the Dynamite Diamond Ring, with Regal putting the Brass Knuckles away. MJF says that he’s going to tell a story and that William owes him to listen. When Max was 19 years old, he was pulled aside by Brian Myers and Pat Buck, saying that he got WWE Extra work, and at the time, they were the only major show around. MJF drove to the Barclay’s Center, with he and the other extras being greeted by Regal where they would be given try outs. Adam Pearce, William Regal, Dean Malenko, and Arn Anderson would be judging the bouts, with MJF going up second, knowing he was fighting for his life and not just a contract. After the match, William Regal took him to a room by themselves, saying that Max had 3 minutes to sell himself. By the time he was done talking, Regal’s jaw was on the floor and he promised MJF to get him a job today. But what happened? MJF knew coming out of this that he wouldn’t be bullied and he would be a Superstar, but when Regal asked his age, Regal told him he was much too young.
Max states that his heart dropped and his dreams were dashed in one fell swoop, though Regal would give him hope, saying that when he became 21, he would put his name on him, demanding him to send him matches and promos monthly. Regal would reply for the first two months, but at the third month, Regal sent him a email that told him to showcase less acting skills, and to improve his skills, as he was not at the level of athlete that WWE was looking to hire at the time. MJF said that his dreams were squandered, saying that he wanted to quit his life and that it made him want to kill himself, as Regal smirks, looking into his eyes sadistically. MJF realized that if he did, Regal and all his naysayers would win.
It is now 2022, and now Regal is a sad withered old man who got fired, and now he has snuck into MJF’s company by sticking to talents far better than he ever was like a succubus. MJF is a 26-year old on top of the business and is a generational talent. Max is the talent that WWE would sacrifice several human lives to get him to sign in 2024. He now reads the email for a nice hearty laugh, as Regal has become nothing more than a joke, while MJF is about to become AEW World Champion because he is Better than You, and You Know It. Following his promo, MJF would be cheered massively by the Ohio crowd, even getting “MJF” chants, while Regal would get booed!
William Regal would get a chance to retort, saying that at age 16, he went to work at a carnival, wrestling fully-grown men in order to break into the business. He saw MJF’s potential and he wanted to light a fire under his backside because in today’s age, grown men cannot beat and bloody 16 year olds. If an email is what it took to get him to this place, then MJF had it easy. Regal says that even if you’re a villain, you never put your hands on a commentator like Tony. MJF let him down by taking shortcuts and that he never did anything to prove his worth to Regal. He made lots of money, he wears a ring to knock people out, and he hired a faction to do his dirty work, but if he wants to be the Devil, then he needs to beat every person in front of him. Regal turns his back and offers a free shot to MJF in order to become the villain he claims to be. Max toys with the idea of blasting Regal in the back of the head with the Diamond Ring, but he doesn’t do it as Regal tells him that he has a lot to prove before leaving MJF in the ring.
My Thoughts:
This was a hell of a segment, featuring a very fiery promo from MJF breaking down his history with William Regal during a tryout in WWE NXT. Reading off a real or fake email, Max added even more drama, character, and intensity to his ongoing feud with the Blackpool Combat Club, and he would get a lot out of Regal as well. Beginning with a silent performance, William Regal would use facial expressions to great effect while listening to Max, doing his best to get under his skin. Regal would begin a bit quiet, but once he got into the meat of his promo, running down and undermining MJF’s issues by juxtaposing how each of them entered the wrestling business, Regal did his part expertly. No matter how this ends, with Max going babyface or fully becoming the Devil of All Elite Wrestling, it is extremely compelling television and feels like the great work MJF and CM Punk put together in the beginning of 2022.
Renee Paquette is backstage with The Acclaimed, the AEW World Tag Team Champions. Billy welcomes Renee to AEW, and calls out Mark Sterling for trying to take away scissoring from the fans. On Rampage in Jacksonville, The Acclaimed will defend the tag titles against Josh Woods and Tony Nese in the place that their team was born!
Renee Paquette’s Sit-Down With Bryan Danielson & Wheeler Yuta
Danielson states that he still has extremely high hopes for Daniel Garcia, stating that he believes Garcia could be the best wrestler the world has ever seen. Yuta takes issue with this, noting that he and Claudio could have seen the betrayal from miles away. He says that when he bled for the Blackpool Combat Club, he thought it meant something, but clearly Danielson doesn’t agree. Moxley, Yuta, and Castagnoli all agree that it means something, as Yuta walks off.
Chris Jericho vs Dalton Castle — ROH World Championship
Delivering an excellent entrance, Dalton Castle would appear with an army of The Boys, while also scoring the Cody Rhodes/Jade Cargill/Powerhouse Hobbs special entrance, albeit elevated on a literal throne. Off the bat, this was great and as a longtime fan of Dalton (since 2015), it made me so happy to see him in a world title match on National Television against Chris Jericho. Anyways, the match! With Jericho offering his hand for the Code of Honor, Castle would stick his hand down his pants only to flip off Jericho to a great reaction. With Le Champion taking control to begin, Castle would get a massive reaction for his comeback train at ringside with The Boys.
Following attempted interference from Bucket Hat Hager, Castle would ask for each of his boys, launching them all over the top rope down onto the big man for a very fun spot. Despite Jericho controlling during the break, Castle would come back upon return, scoring with a hurricanrana on the floor. Hager would attempt to get involved again, but the Boys would overwhelm Hager! Back in the ring, Castle and Jericho would collide with stereo croosbodies. After one of The Tate Twins stole Hager’s bucket, hat, Jake Hager would deliver the performance of his career, hulking up and decimating the Boys in a great comedic moment. Castle would lock in a bodyscissors headlock in the center of the ring, though the champion would escape, transitioning into The Walls! With Castle having broken his back in the past, that would be played up, though he would manage to get to the bottom rope! Taking down Jericho with a lariat, Dalton would get another nearfall before the two would trade blows on their knees in the center of the ring, a patented Fighting Spirit spot. After attempting the Lionsault, Castle would catch Jericho while going for the springboard for a great German suplex nearfall as the two would get “This is Awesome” chants. Blocking the Codebreaker, Castle would take down Jericho with the Bangarang, but Jericho would kick out at 2.9! Jericho would murder Castle with one of the most brutal-looking Judas Effects the man has ever delivered.
Following the match, Jericho would get on the mic and say that he is decimating Ring of Honor wrestlers, champions, announcers, and commentators. 2.0 would grab a hold of Ian on commentary, which would prompt Jerry Lynn to make the save. Jericho would Tombstone Piledrive Lynn on the ROH World Championship.
My Thoughts:
This was honestly sensational. Maybe I’m biased due to being a massive fan of Dalton Castle, as well as loving Jericho right now. Delivering in spades in all of his ROH World Title matches, against Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, Bandido, and now Dalton Castle, Chris Jericho is doing great at being a heel ROH World Champion. Between this match and his one against Bandido, Jericho has managed to elevate two guys massively with the AEW audience, selling great for both of them, letting both Castle and Bandido become stars for AEW fans. That alone makes his reign worth it in my eyes, and I thought he, Dalton, Jake Hager, and The Boys all did great in this match. Seriously, go out of your way to watch this.
During this match, Final Battle, the next ROH PPV, would be announced for the end of the year in Dallas, Texas. It would also be announced that AEW will be returning to Los Angeles at the beginning of 2023!
Kiera Hogan and Leila Grey would be confronted by Jade Cargill, asking where Nyla Rose and the TBS Championship are. They could not find her, so Jade threatens to hijack Rampage this Friday if Nyla is not brought to her.
Jon Moxley vs Hangman Page — AEW World Championship
Wasting no time, with the match starting around 9:30, Hangman Page would cut off Jon Moxley’s homecoming entrance, meeting him in the crowd for a brawl to start the match. This would even include Page flying off the stans with a Moonsault for a huge spot.
Despite coming out to a mixed reaction, out of the first commercial break, Hangman Page would be met with major boos from Moxley’s hometown crowd. Moxley would be busted open quickly, with Regal doing a good job on commentary to show concern for blood coming so quickly. Following a brief flurry of offense in the corner from The Champion, Page would take control again, sending Mox into the opposing corner before taking him down with a Fallaway Slam, only to be met with a Cutter from Moxley!
Back from another commercial break, around the 9:48 mark. At this point, after being shown in a private box early in the match, MJF would no longer be seen in the arena, teasing a potential cash-in for his Chip. Hangman would take down Moxley with suplexes, heating back up, before being obliterated with a King Kong Lariat. With Doc Sampson in the ring checking on Hangman, the match would be called off due to a medical stoppage. Moxley would retain in what surely was not the scheduled ending for the match, with Page going down with a freak injury. Commentary would have to improvise here for a while as Moxley and Regal played to the crowd while the medical team helped Hangman out of the ring. This was scary and uncomfortable, but Hangman would be stretchered out and I just cannot stress how much I hope he is okay.
After the medical team was able to get Page out of the ring safely, Hangman would call MJF out with Max dragging Bryce out to the ring with his Casino Ladder Match Chip. Regal would goad MJF, who would get into the ring with four minutes left in the show. Max would tease cashing in, but he would high-tail it out of the ringside area, grabbing a mic. The fans know that MJF is a man, and he announces that he is going to cash-in the chip, but he wants Moxley at 100%, clean in the ring, so that there is no question that MJF is better than Moxley. MJF announces that he cashes in for his AEW World Championship Match at AEW Full Gear. For the first time in his miserable life, he is going to earn it, scoring a great reaction from the fans in Ohio. Mox says that he is going to earn the heel of his boot in MJF’s mouth, he is going to earn his fist going directly up his ass, and his head will be squeezed until it turns purple. At Full Gear, he has earned a date with destiny, a date with the best wrestler in the world, a date with the AEW World Champion, and Moxley is going to show the world how dangerous getting in the ring with him is.
My Thoughts:
Fuck, just fuck. What a travesty that in their first-ever match, two men that seem to be some of the safest workers in the company, Hangman Page would go down with a serious injury. This was a horrible way to end, but it was out of their hands. Thankfully, AEW would make the right call and end the match due to ref stoppage immediately, letting Hangman get help as quickly as possible. Up until the injury, these two were delivering a fantastic main event that seemed to be living up to the “Big Fight Feel” established for it. While Page was never going to win, he was wrestling with a fire under him after last week’s intense promo in Canada. In the end, it would be a freak injury that would lead to Moxley’s first successful defense as AEW World Champion.
MJF and Moxley would have a little promo to end the show, and the tease of MJF cashing in was done well. I appreciate that they didn’t do that though, as it would have cheapened all the character work they’ve been doing with MJF. The whole “will he be good, will he be bad, will he be somewhat decent?” thing is a great evolution of Max’s character currently in AEW, so I’m glad the ending of the show reflected that, with him announcing that he wants to face Moxley for the AEW World Championship at AEW Full Gear, where the champ will be 100%. As someone attending that event, this has me thrilled. Best wishes to Hangman Page, as I hope he has a quick, healthy recovery.
Overall, this was genuinely one of the best episodes of AEW Dynamite in a long time. Featuring great wrestling from only four matches, the show did not feel totally over-stuffed for once, while also offering lots of time for a fantastic MJF/William Regal promo battle and several promos throughout the night. Dalton Castle vs Chris Jericho would be my Match of the Night, and is the one bout on the show that I think everyone should go out of their way to see, as it was a textbook performance from Jericho on how to get his opponent over. Castle looked great, even in defeat, and the two just seemed to click on every level. Elsewhere, the trios match and Shida vs Storm delivered some high-octane, hard-hitting, satisfying action, with the latter featuring the return of Riho! The main event was a great one, hampered by a freak injury to Hangman Page, something out of control of the booking and those involved. Had Page not gotten injured and the main event was not forced to be cut short, this could have been one of the best AEW shows of 2022, though literally nobody is to blame for that. Again, best wishes to Hangman Page.
AEW Dynamite, October 18, 2022 Overall Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros:
- GREAT WRESTLING ACROSS THE BOARD
- Dalton Castle’s Entrance + Presentation
- Chris Jericho vs Dalton Castle
- The Return of Riho
- Trios Titles continuing to deliver thrilling matches
- FTR vs Swerve In Our Glory being set up for next week
- Lots of Renee Young
- No Fluff added onto the show, no filler
- More great work for the women’s division
Cons:
- Hangman Page’s unfortunate injury
- Luchasaurus & Christian Cage
- Chris Jericho’s Very Bad Piledriver to Jerry Lynn
AEW RAMPAGE — Friday, October 21, 2022:
- The Acclaimed vs Varsity Athletes — AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
- Rush vs 10
- Penelope Ford vs Willow Nightingale
- Ari Daivari vs Hook — FTW Championship Match
AEW Dynamite — Wednesday, October 26, 2022:
- Riho vs Jamie Hayter
- FTR vs Swerve In Our Glory — Number One Contender’s Match For The AEW World Tag Team Championship
- Bryan Danielson vs Sammy Guevara
- Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli vs Daniel Garcia & Chris Jericho
AEW Full Gear — Saturday, November 19, 2022:
- MJF vs Jon Moxley — AEW World Championship Match
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