Tonight, it’s the first action Kota Ibushi has seen in several years in an AEW ring! After returning on Collision, the other half of the Golden Lovers will be in competition tonight. Elsewhere, the #1 spot for the Casino Gauntlet match at All In is on the line, as Willow Nightingale, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, Thunder Rosa and Kris Statlander face off for the chance to start first in one of the rare timed-entry matches where that’s actually a bonus.
Before I get into the show, I need to take a moment to acknowledge that, earlier this week, the Marks of Wrestling community lost someone we all loved. On Sunday, Kevin Fields, aka Killa Kev, passed away. I first met Kevin in 2010 on AngryMarks, but I was familiar with his work on the site way before that. Everyone has their story of how they fell out of watching wrestling for a few years some time in the 2000s, but mine was a little different. Starting in 2008, I had a year-and-a-half long mental health crisis, and one of the many, many things I fell behind on was watching wrestling. For the first six months or so, I kept telling myself that I would catch up by watching the shows at some point, but as the months dragged on, it became increasingly clear that this was not going to work. If I was going to find out what I had missed, I was going to have to read recaps to get caught up. And that was when I found AngryMarks. For catching up on a year and a half of missed programming, there was absolutely no website better. It didn’t just feel like information, it felt like a singular narrative structure from beginning to end, just like watching a show or reading a story. The Raw Recap from Killa Kev, the Smackdown Recap from Nickolye, and I honestly forget who was doing the WWECW Recaps, but they were all awesome. I caught up just after the last Raw of 2009, which just so happened to be the last Raw that Kevin would recap as a regular column. During the segment where Hornswoggle joined DX, Kevin announced that he would be finishing the show, and then never doing it again. And honestly, who could blame him?
Even in a fit of anger, Kevin was never the type to let anyone down, so he posted contact info for anyone who wanted to be his successor. In a rare showing of putting myself out there, I emailed Stevie, and he gave me a test run. And that was how the first Monday Night Raw that I’d watched live in over a year also ended up being my first ever recap. Kevin helped me get my feet under me, gave me tips that have proved infinitely valuable over the years, and offered advice along the way. The last time I went back to find the email he sent me on how to recover my password was probably two or three months before the site switched over. And in addition to helping me fill his big shoes, he stayed a regular part of the community, still a constant fixture on the podcast network. I’ll never forget the time he finally gave up on watching Raw, which was at the time still very much in the doldrums, and he announced to the entire room that he would be spending Monday nights with his model trains from now on. “Choo-choo, motherfucker!” became the refrain, and as the weeks went on, we found ourselves muttering “Choo-choo, motherfucker” quite a lot at the TV.
As he slowly moved away from the website, our friendship from that point actually didn’t have that much to do with wrestling. As the years went on, I realized that Kevin was not only a very funny guy with a lot of great takes on wrestling, he may have also been the wisest person I’ve ever met. While any human being who will ever live will only ever possess a tiny fraction of the knowledge of the universe, wisdom is the thing that helps you navigate what you do have, and Kevin had that in abundance, which is probably why his tiny fraction of the knowledge of the universe ended up being quite a lot bigger than most people’s. Although there was a bit of an age gap, Kevin and I both did a lot of growing up in the 2010s in terms of how we looked at the world. I think, for Kevin, it was that he regarded growing up in your worldview as a lifelong process, and he’s inspired me to look at life the same way. But he approached the subject in such a measured, reasonable way. Kevin did not follow trends, and he didn’t overcompensate when he had reason to shift his views. He took in new information, assessed it, sought out the rest of the picture, and adapted accordingly. And then, he did something about it. No one fought for what they believed in like Kevin. No one stood up for people who needed it like Kevin. Kevin may have been taken from us too soon, but he absolutely showed us all what a life worth living looked like. And I only hope we can some day make the world he fought for.
Dynamite opens with Mercedes Mone attacking Toni Storm backstage, tosses her to the ringside area, grabs a mic and tells her they’ll play if she wants to play, then locks in the Statement Maker. Referees try to pull her off, but she doesn’t let go until Mina Shirakawa comes out to chase her off. Before she leaves, Mone grabs a mic and reiterates, “Let the games begin.”
The Young Bucks come over the ‘tron to announce that they used their stroke to change the schedule, and the tag match that Swerve and Ospreay were supposed to have an hour from now will now actually be right now.
Match One: Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland vs. Blake Christian and Lee Johnson
Swerve and Ospreay are still getting dressed during their entrances. Swerve and Lee start off, lockup, Swerve with a takedown, Johnson kips up. whip to the corner, reversed, both men tangle with each other without an obvious advantage, Blake in, Will in, Will with chops, Blake with a hurricanrana, dropkick, slap, Ospreay knocks Blake around the ring, Swerve helps out at one point, Ospreay tosses Johnson to the floor, suicide dive, the Bucks come out, Blake with a dropkick, one for Swerve, suicide dive to Ospreay, rolls him into the ring, Lee in while the Bucks sit in office chairs on the stage, Lee with a shoulder tackle in the corner, diving clothesline for two, Blake in, kick to the arm, toss to the corner, arm wrench, Ospreay with a few punches, Blake with a kick, punch in the corner, foot choke, Lee with a front facelock, Blake with an arm breaker, punch, arm trap, goes up top, top rope walk, arm drag, boot for Swerve while Lee hits Ospreay with a splash, Blake with a 450 for two as Swerve breaks the count, Blake blocks a tag, whip to the corner, Ospreay boots Lee, Swerve in, cleans house (whose house?), cover for two, brainbuster, House Call for three.
Winners: Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay
Security block the winners from going up the ramp toward the Bucks. They hit the ring instead, and Swerve says it’s been year after year of this, and he’s not going to go another year with it. He challenges the Bucks to a tag match with Ospreay at All In. Ospreay grabs a mic and says that the Bucks might be founding fathers, but it’s thanks to the people who supported them that AEW has grown. Ospreay proposes they put their EVP status on the line. Swerve then takes out the Bucks and their security with a suicide dive.
After a commercial, the Bucks announce that Swerve has been suspended for putting his hands on an AEW official. Okada walks in with Roppongi Vice and Takeshita and talk about their shared history. The Bucks say they may not like Don Callis, but they all love Okada and want to see him succeed, and they all hate Kenny Omega. Takeshita and Okada have a brief staredown.
Match Two: Kota Ibushi vs. Trent Beretta
Lockup, Beretta gets a rope break, Kota with a rear waistlock takedown, trading hold attempts, Kota with a snapmare, crucifix pin for two, dropkick, Beretta with kicks, boot to the floor, Rocky attacks on the floor, Trent with a boot, rolls Kota into the ring, misses a shoulder tackle, Ibushi with a powerslam, kicks, standing moonsault for two, half and half suplex, blocked, Trent with a superkick, Claymore, Gotch Piledriver for two, kicks, slaps, boot, slap, Kota with slaps, misses a kick, Trent with a half and half, Kota to his feet, dragon suplex, rollup for two, reversed into a rollup for two, Trent with a rollup for two, pair of lariats, forearm, goes for another, reversed into a takedown, Kota with a standing double foot stomp, Trent tosses him into the top rope, goes off the rope, Kota with a running knee, Kamigoye for three.
Winner: Kota Ibushi
Okada comes out after the bell, staredown in the ring, then leaves.
Next week, the two of them will face off for Dynamite 300.
Backstage, Jon Moxley says he has no sympathy for Hangman Page, because he’s had to go through all the same things he has, and he didn’t whine about it.
After a commercial, they show a clip from earlier. Renee asks if AR Fox is gaining momentum, he starts to answer, but before he does, Ricochet walks in and asks to team with him tonight as a tryout for his new stable. Fox doesn’t get all the way to answering, but Ricochet takes it as a yes.
Match Three: Ricochet and AR Fox vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight
Jet Speed beat down Ricochet to start the match, Fox in, they beat him down too, Fox rebounds, eventually hitting Speedball with a suicide dive, kick to Knight, spinning suplex for two, forearm, whip to the corner, clothesline for two, Knight with a forearm, Fox with a knee, Knight with an elbow, clotheslines an interfering Ricochet over the top rope, Bailey clotheslines Fox over the top rope, stereo suicide dives, Bailey with a roundhouse kick to Ricochet, Fox with kicks to Knight back in the ring, swinging DDT in the ropes for two, Ricochet tags himself in, elbow to the back, another, snapmare, elbow to the back, boot, cover for two, mounted punches, punch, toss to the corner, shoulder tackles, snapmare, diving headbutt for one, stomps to the back, Knight with chops, Ricochet tosses him to the corner, tells Fox to attack, Fox says no, Ricochet with a punch to the back, snap suplex, blocked, punch to the back, Fox in, they both go for different double teams (a suplex and a whip), then do it again but in reverse, Knight starts fighting his way out, Bailey in, volley of kicks to Fox, running shooting star press for two as Ricochet breaks the count, Knight in, double dropkick, aided diving lariat for two, Bailey in, Ricochet pulls him to the floor and tosses him into the steps, Fox accidentally tosses Knight into Ricochet, but then hits Bailey with a suicide dive, rolls him into the ring, Bailey with a superkick, goes up top, Fox hits him with a Spanish Fly, Knight in, Fox goes for a tag, Ricochet drops off the apron and walks off, Fox and Knight duck each other for a bit, Knight with a dropkick, Sky High, UFO Splash for three.
Winners: Jet Speed
After the bell, Jet Speed call out Hurt Syndicate for All In. The tag champs attack. It ends with both members of Jet Speed being slammed through a single table.
Hurt Syndicate finish making their way to the ring, MVP begs for competition, and says Jet Speed can have their title shot if they can stand up. He passes the mic to MJF, who brags about unmasking Mistico, then announces he’s entering the Casino Gauntlet qualifier next week. Mark Briscoe comes out and says he’s been ordered by production to get them out so he can have his match. MJF says they can take as much time as they want, calls Briscoe and the audience ugly and poor, and says Briscoe is about to lose his match. Briscoe says he can tell that MJF is working through emotional pain, so the word of the day is empathy, because clearly MJF is dealing with a tiny penis.
Match Three: Winner Gets the #1 Spot in the Casino Gauntlet: Mark Briscoe vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. ROH World Champion Bandido vs. Roderick Strong
Takeshita and Bandido fight, Briscoe and Strong fight, the former two fight to the floor while the latter two fight in the ring, Briscoe hits Takeshita with a baseball slide, then a Blockbuster to Bandido, Strong hits Briscoe with a suicide dive, back suplex onto the barricade, rolls him into the ring, Irish Curse for two, Bandido tries to break the count but it’s already been broken, Bandido tees off on Strong, Three Amigos for one, crossface, Takeshita pulls Bandido off, toss to the corner, whip, reversed, Takeshita with a boot, Bandido with a hurricanrana, Takeshita with a rolling elbow, Briscoe hits him with a Pele kick, running clothesline, suplex for two, everyone tees off on each other until they’re all down, then they get up and pretty much the same thing happens again.
Strong and Bandido end up the last two in the ring, trading forearms, Bandido with a cutter, goes up top, Takeshita shoves him off, Briscoe then shoves Takeshita off, Briscoe misses Froggy Bow, Strong with a crucifix pin for two, trading shots, Strong with kicks, high angle slam, everyone fights off everyone, Strong ends up hitting Bandido with End of Heartache, but it allows Briscoe to hit Strong with Froggy Bow for three.
Winner: Mark Briscoe
Backstage, Adam Cole makes an open challenge for his TNT Championship to any member of the Don Callis Family.
Match Four: Winner Gets the #1 Spot in the Casino Gauntlet: Kris Statlander vs. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Thunder Rosa
Willow and Athena fight to the floor while Rosa and Stat fight in the ring, it eventually turns into a full-on brawl, Willow ends up covering everyone for two, tees off on Rosa in the corner, Stat tries to intervene, Willow punches her, clotheslines to both of them in the corner, avalanche, Athena with a superkick to Willow, gutwrench knees for two as Stat breaks the count, Stat and Rosa trade forearms, Rosa with a DDT for two, Athena and Rosa fight each other, Stat and Willow tackle each other on the floor, Rosa rolls up Athena on the floor, Willow and Stat with electric chair lifts to the other two, Willow transitions to a DVD, Stat just drops Rosa, Willow and Stat tee off on each other, neither gaining an advantage, mutual elbow, Athena runs in and cleans house on both of them, ends up getting suplexed, Rosa with a dropkick to the former Best Friends, rollup to Willow into a double foot stomp for two, Athena and Rosa tussle, Stat takes them both down, Willow with an uranage to Athena for two as Rosa breaks the count, cleans house until Athena pulls her to the floor, Rosa rebounds by tossing her into the steps, suplex from atop the steps, reversed, Willow with a cannonball to Stat, Babe with the Powerbomb, blocked, Marina Shafir comes out and stares down Willow, Wheeler Yuta tries to intervene but gets a Pounce, Statlander hits Staturday Night Fever for three.
Winner: Kris Statlander
They show a promo for The Patriarchy and their future tag team title aspirations.
Renee asks FTR about their fallout with The Outrunners. Stoke says they’ll meet and talk tomorrow on Collision.
Main Event: Hangman Page vs. The Beast Mortos
Page tosses Mortos around, fallaway slam into the turnbuckle for two, Mortos with a series of kicks, snapmare, neck snap, foot choke, toss to the corner, avalanche, kick, fallaway slam for two, chinlock, Page punches his way out, Mortos with a throw down, Page with chops, Mortos with a chop, trading chops, Mortos with an eye poke, ten-punch, Page with chops, Mortos with a takedown, body slam, blocked, trading forearms, Page with a discus lariat for two, Dead Eye, blocked, Page with a pop-up powerbomb for two, goes up top, Mortos tries to block, Hangman knocks him to the floor, moonsault, misses, Mortos with a suicide dive, pop-up Samoan Drop for two, rollup for two, Hangman hits a Buckshot Lariat for three.
Winner: Hangman Page
After the bell, the lights go out, and when they come back on, the Bucks have Page in position for an EVP Trigger, which they hit. Death Riders come out, Shafir hands Mox a chain, which he uses to choke Page. The Opps come out to make the save, but they’re held back by the Bucks and Yuta. Will Ospreay finally runs in to make the save. As Dynamite goes off the air, Moxley promises that he’ll show the world what the world champion looks like.
