Cero Reviews AEW Dynamite 11.20: Darby vs Moxley

[cero2k]

AEW Dynamite
November 20, 2019
Indianapolis, IN

Happy Mexican Revolution Day!

Fenix vs Nick Jackson - 7/10
Big emphasis done on that Nick's last single's match was many years ago, while Fenix is a regular singles guy, and while they had a lot of spots to showcase how similar these guys are, and how much they know each other, the commentary did constantly bring up that Jackson was accustomed to do certain spots and move into a tag, or always have his brother around. At one point, Nick even tried to set up the Inditaker which obviously doesn't work here.

The match itself was back and forward from the get-go. Nick's offense consisted of a lot of Superkicks, big spots, and a lucha armdrag here and there. I guess we can say that both men worked on each other's heads, the finish coming in with Fenix dropping Nick with a Driver. I wish they would have mentioned that Nick doesn't really have a single's finisher aside from the Sharpshooter, but that most of the moveset focuses on the head towards the Meltzer Driver.

Post-match - Nick offered Fenix a handshake, Fenix denied. Fenix remembers the big feud they were on no more than a couple of months ago.

Dr. Britt Baker, DMD vs Hikaru Shida -
This is seat number 1 and 2 in the ranking block. Britt's nose got busted open early on and at one point we gotta wonder if she's just really unlucky or she just leans in on the moves a bit too much. Good for her that they can sell the defeat to not being able to breath, because Shida was just dominant in this match, the finishing sequence saw Shida hit Baker with everything from all corners until she got the 3 count.

Dark Order Vignette - This was really weird, it was the story of John, a loser that gets bullied in the subway, right before he finds a commercial of a cult with a hidden message. I loved the line about 'strength in numbers' .Excalibur sold it perfectly, The Dark Order are praying on people on 'losing streaks'

2019 Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal
"Hangman" Adam Page vs Chuck Taylor vs Orange Cassidy vs Kip Sabian w/Penelope Ford vs Jimmy Havoc vs Jungle Boy vs Marko Stunt vs Pentagon Jr. vs Sonny Kiss vs Joey Janela vs MJF w/Wardlow vs Billy Gunn - 6.5/10
Jesus, I can't remember the last time I saw Pentagon wearing the old Black and White attire. Before the match started, Fenix came down and was backing up Pentagon, but then unmasked to reveal Chris Daniels, who distracted Pentagon, allowing Taylor to eliminate him.

MJF eliminated Kiss for the heat. Billy Gunn had a roar spot and eliminated Havoc and Stunt. Havoc returned and stapled everyone until the refs pulled him off. No way Gunn isn't getting this showcase out of the comments on RAW about the jobber 'Kip'.

Back from commercial, Janela got eliminated when Spears attacked him with a chair. MJF eliminated Orange Cassidy for the heat. Gunn was eliminated with a weird MJF and Page pair up when Wardlow distracted Gunn.

Chuck Taylor had a great match until he got eliminated by KIp Sabian after Penelope grabbed Chuckie's leg. Jungle Boy then eliminated Sabian with a rana. It seemed like the final two were Jungle Boy and Page, but MJF eliminated Jungle Boy by surprised since he had not gone over the top rope. Match was ok, nothing special, but I think it was more of a vehicle to try and get certain spots in and advance some rivalries.

Page vs MJF next week.

Post-match - There was a little pull apart until Page and Wardlow got face to face.

Chris Jericho Announcement - Jericho came out with Hager. He apologized for his temper tantrum last week. Jericho said that next week from Chicago, he'll finally get the thank you he deserves. He finished his shtick when S.C.U. came out.

S.C.U. came out without their titles, completely unprofessional. Scorpio Sky made a little fun of Jericho and brought up that he gave Jericho his first AEW loss. Sky told Jericho that he didn't meant to embarrass him. They talked trash to each other and S.C.U. tricked Jericho into a title match next week. Sky finally got serious and said that he's been waiting for this all his life.

An S.C.U. vs Inner Circle brawl broke out. Santana and Ortiz had flapjacks and handcuffs, which they used on Kaz and Daniels. Nakazawa and Cutler tried to make the save, but failed. Jericho delivered the Judas Effect on Sky and left him laying. Jurassic Express came out for the save and also got taken out, but we got an awesome Hager vs Luchasaurus face off. Hager backed off from the fight and lost his watch in the process. Awesome angle.

I liked that it was JE that came out for the save, but it was weird that it wasn't Private Party who are fighting PnP in a couple of minutes. Likewise, I guess Daniels is really lucky that Pentagon wasn't paying attention since he could have rushed in and taken advantage of the handcuffs.

"The Librarian" Peter Avalon w/Leva Bates vs Luchasaurus w/Jurassic Express - Squash
One move squash. I guess it helps that Luchasaurus was pissed and hyped for a fight.

Private Party vs Proud and Powerful - 7/10
This match is being dedicated to Matt Travis, NYC area indie wrestler that got killed by a careless driver and his death machine. Fuck cars.

PnP worked over Quen for a long time, Kassidy got the hot tag. There was a weird botch or at least bad camera angle when Kassidy pinned Ortiz with a Code Red, but apparently Santana was the legal man and the ref didn't realize it and counted up to two and then stopped. I think Santana was supposed to pull the leg of the ref instead, but didn't make it in time and the ref didn't call it.

Finish came later when Santana was gonna use the Flapjack on PP, but Nick Jackson came out and took it away, allowing Private Party to hit the Gin n Tonic on Santana for the win.

Post-match - Guevara came out and attacked Nick. Dustin Rhodes came out for the save and they all took out The Inner Circle.

Kenny Omega Rehab Promo - Omega cut a promo blaming that losing to PAC was the start of his downfall and that it has led him down a rabbit hole of loses and doing matches that he's not used to, and thus Mox didn't defeat a fully focused Omega. He said that next week, he gets back on track when he defeats PAC.

Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley - 8.5/10
Darby had a little intro to his usual song with him getting inside a bodybag with Mox's name on it. I don't know why. It was also part of his entrance, when some dudes brought out the body bag. His skateboard has a camera, so he's probably doing some crazy spot with it tonight.

Darby started early catching Mox on his entrance with a huge Suicide Dive. The brawl started around the fans and it took a bit before the match started in the ring. Once in the ring, Mox was all in control, he was even blocking Allin's cross-bodies by size alone. Allin had some hope spots here and there, unpredictable moves and going after Mox's back and fingers was working for him. Allin got placed in the body bag, but the ref got him out before taking any scary bump. Fans booed.

We got a ton of great spots and near falls, crowd is going crazy, but at the end, it takes a Top Rope Paradigm Shift to put down Allin. Awesome main event. Mox is selling the hand as broken.

Mox is surely being build towards Jericho if you ask me. Something about Jericho losing the title AT the Jericho Cruise sounds too soon, but right.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, I really liked the opener and main event, while the rest was enjoyable. I loved the SCU vs TIC segment, I had never seen Sky at this level, and I can say that I'm down with it.

[Big Red Machine]

Fenix vs Nick Jackson - 7/10
Big emphasis done on that Nick's last single's match was many years ago, while Fenix is a regular singles guy, and while they had a lot of spots to showcase how similar these guys are, and how much they know each other, the commentary did constantly bring up that Jackson was accustomed to do certain spots and move into a tag, or always have his brother around. At one point, Nick even tried to set up the Inditaker which obviously doesn't work here.

The match itself was back and forward from the get-go. Nick's offense consisted of a lot of Superkicks, big spots, and a lucha armdrag here and there. I guess we can say that both men worked on each other's heads, the finish coming in with Fenix dropping Nick with a Driver. I wish they would have mentioned that Nick doesn't really have a single's finisher aside from the Sharpshooter, but that most of the moveset focuses on the head towards the Meltzer Driver.

Shockingly, I liked this match more than you. Also, I think the Bucks have used their respective high-flying part of More Bang For Your Buck as singles finishers (though this is going back, like a decade ago).

[cero2k]

Shockingly, I liked this match more than you. Also, I think the Bucks have used their respective high-flying part of More Bang For Your Buck as singles finishers (though this is going back, like a decade ago).

i think you're right. My only two references of them working singles was (1) their TNA feud with each other, and (2) a Jr's singles tournament they did in NJPW (2014/15?), which I didn't fully watch. I honestly don't remember much of either.