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AEW Dynamite: Hangman Page turns up the heat on Swerve before All Out

Bob Kapur

Wednesday night’s episode of AEW Dynamite was all about turning up the heat for the big matches on this Saturdays’ All Out event. And nowhere was the heat more intense than in the build for the steel cage match between Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland. Heat so intense that it literally burned Swerve’s House to the ground. It was a fiery ending to a show that heavily-featured the women’s division, but also fanned the flames of feuds between PAC and Will Ospreay, and Jack Perry and Bryan Danielson, who puts his career and title on the line against Perry on Saturday.

 

To start the show, Daniel Garcia stormed into the ring, grabbed the mic, and called out MJF. MJF answered the call, but did so from up in the bleachers. MJF insulted and threatened Garcia. In response, Garcia said that everything about MJF is fake, including MJF’s fake love for AEW. Garcia said that he will make MJF’s life a living hell and that will start at All Out this Saturday when Garcia ends MJF’s career.

MJF said that Garcia has a lot to learn, including the rule to not trust anyone. He told Garcia that the fans will eventually turn on him, so MJF will protect him from that by putting Garcia in a wheelchair on Saturday. And then MJF insulted Garcia’s mom.

Garcia ran into the crowd in order to get to MJF and beat up the security team that tried to hold him back. But as he got up to MJF’s private seating area, MJF clocked him in the head with a wine bottle, knocking Garcia out and bloodying him up. MJF then sat down beside Garcia’s unconscious body and thanked Garcia for waking up the part of MJF that had been dormant. He kissed Garcia’s bloody forehead and left.

In the back, Renee Paquette was with the Conglomeration and Willow Nightingale and Will Ospreay as an honourary member. Mark Briscoe fortunately did all the talking, which is always a highlight.

 

Match 1: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher (w/ Don Callis) – for the Continental Championship

Don Callis joined the commentary team for this one. The crowd was behind Fletcher in this one, so I guess he’s the lesser heel of the two? They did some feeling out for a bit with Fletcher getting in the first big move with a Flying Kick that sent Okada to the floor and followed that up with a Flying Dive.

During the picture-in-picture (PIP), Okada gained control, but as soon as the show resumed, Fletcher was in charge, hitting Okada with a Swinging Slam for two. Okada blocked a Piledriver attempt and hit a modified Neckbreaker, and then connected with a Flying Elbow Smash. But didn’t go for a cover, despite Klye lying there motionless, and instead stood up and flipped the bird to the crowd. Apparently Okada doesn’t care about winning the match, and if he doesn’t care, I figured I wouldn’t either, so the match recap will be truncated from this point.

For several more minutes, they hit a bunch of big moves on each other. Including one where Fletcher hit a Flying Elbow Smash of his own and he also opted to not go for a cover despite Okada being down and out, and posed instead.  Both of these guys are idiots who have lost the plot completely.

More big moves, until Okada used the referee as a human shield, then hit Fletcher with a low blow when the ref’s back was turned, and then hit the Rainmaker for the win.

After the match, Okada left the ring, and Takeshita ran in and yelled at Okada as he made his way up the ramp.

Winner, and still Continental Champion: Okada

They showed a video package from earlier this week where Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana visited Swerve’s childhood house (whose childhood house?). After signing a contract extension with AEW, Swerve bought the house back. If it’s anything like the rest of AEW, in a year, that will only be half the house it is today.

 

Match 2: Jamie Hayter vs. Robyn Renegade

Saraya and Harley Cameron were shown watching this match in the back. Renegade showed off some aggression early on, blasting Hayter with various kick-based attacks. But Hayter absorbed it all, and when Renegade tried to change things up with an aerial attack, Hayter caught her and planted her with a Twisting Powerslam. Hayter hit a couple of power moves and ended things with a Hayter-Ade for the three. This was fine, and a good solid match to help Hayter get back into the swing of things.

Winner: Jamie Hayter

They showed a clip from last week’s FTW Championship match where referee Aubrey Edwards missed seeing Roderick Strong’s leg under the ropes when he was in HOOK’s Redrum submission hold, and because the hold wasn’t broken like it should have been, Roddy had to tap out.

Cut to Strong in the back with Renee, where Roddy showed Christopher Daniels what had happened, protesting the decision. Daniels said that the referee’s decision was final. But then HOOK came in and said that he saw the footage and agreed that the ref missed the foot under the ropes. To clear up any controversy, HOOK offered Roddy a rematch for the title tonight. Roddy said he wouldn’t wrestle in Milwaukee, but rather would decide where and when they meet.

Somewhere in the back, Marina Shafir was beating up a bunch of security guards as she and Jon Moxley arrived to the building. They went up to the Young Bucks and Jack Perry. Mox went up to Perry and said that he was a sweet kid, and he and Shafir headed through the curtain to head into the arena.

They made their way through the crowd and headed into the ring, and luckily only he took the mic. He talked about wrestling Darby Allin many years ago, and said that during that match, he saw that there was something special in Allin. Mox said he appreciated that Allin does things with reckless abandon. Mox said that Allin knows it’s a privilege – and not an entitlement – to be in this sport and perform in front of the crowd. Mox said he just wants to talk with Allin. And then he and Shafir left. This was not good.

In the back, Renee was with Chris Jericho and the Learning Tree. Jericho talked about how Orange Cassidey ruined Jericho’s suit jacket from years ago when he dumped orange juice on Jericho. Jericho said that Cassidy would pay when he faces Bryan Keith on Friday. Orange Cassidy walked up and said that if Keith beats him, Cassidy would pay Jericho $7,000 in cash to reimburse him for the jacket.

 

Match 3: Mariah May (c) vs. Nyla Rose – for the AEW Women’s Championship

May wasn’t intimidated by Rose and actually started throwing slaps into the challenger’s face. But paid for the cockiness when Rose clobbered her with a big Clothesline and hit a Body Slam that reeled May. But May snapped Rose’s throat over the top rope and followed that up with a Missile Dropkick that put May in control to take us to the PIP.

Back from the break, and May had Rose down on one knee, keeping her grounded with wear-down holds and basic stomps and kicks. But they both had the idea to throw a Headbutt at the same time, and that dazed May long enough to give Rose a chance to recover. This led to a Forearm exchange in the middle of the ring, and then a Knee Lift exchange, until Rose broke the stalemate with a huge Release German Suplex, and another big Clothesline that earned her a two-count.

May avoided a Beast Bomb attempt and responded with some head punches, but Rose rebounded with a big slam, and May rolled to the floor in order to buy some time. Rose fell for the playing of possum and when she went out to get the champ, May swept out Rose’s leg from under her and Rose hit the ring steps hard, nearly resulting in her being counted out.

As Rose climbed back in the ring, May hit her with a Running Knee, and May immediately followed that up with a Storm Zero to get the pin.

This was fine, though the crowd really didn’t seem into it, presumably because nobody thought Rose had a chance of winning, and because they knew Toni Storm wasn’t in the building so would not try to get revenge on May.

Winner, and still AEW Women’s Champion: Mariah May

A hype video aired for Deonna Purrazzo, who is looking to rebuild her momentum after losing her feud finale match to Thunder Rosa in a Texas Bullrope match. Deonna takes on Hikaru Shida on Collision on Friday. Shida faces Mercedes Mone for the TBS Championship at All Out, so will probably beat Purrazzo, in which case, why even try to suggest a push with the production of the video? Purrazzo is one of the best women wrestlers in the business today, so hopefully they start booking her as such.

 

Mercedes Mone comes to the ring, accompanied by Kamille. During her introduction, they cut to a sign in the audience that said “Cornette is irrelevant”, presumably in response to his criticism of all the weaknesses in Mone’s game and his view that she isn’t worth the money Tony is paying her, so possibly the sign-writer misspelled “irrefutable”?

Mone said that she will beat Shida at All Out and that there’s a price to pay if you mess with Mercedes Mone. Shida appeared on the Khan Tron and predicted that she would beat Mone at All Out. Christopher Daniels joined Shida and said that Kamille will be banned from ringside for the Mone-Shida match, which made Mone very angry.

From somewhere in the bowels of the building, Jack Perry was with the Young Bucks. Perry talked about being at All Out 2021 when Bryan Danielson debuted for AEW, and he dreamed that one day he would want to face him. But three years later, he feared that dream would never come true, since Danielson’s career is coming to an end. So he reinvented himself to get back to AEW. And Danielson did nothing to help him. So, at All Out, Perry will make sure that Danielson won’t have a happy ending at All Out. The Bucks said that they would do whatever they can to make sure the title comes back to the Elite.

Speaking of Danielson, cut to the arena, and the AEW World Champion made his way to the commentary desk where he’ll be for the main event.

 

Match 4: Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, and Will Ospreay vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and PAC

O’Reilly and Yuta did some nice technical wrestling early on, but then it all got ruined when Cassidy entered the ring. Thankfully he wasn’t in there long before PAC demanded that Ospreay come face him, and Ospreay obliged. After a quick and fun gymnastical display by those two, the show went into PIP.

Back from the break, and OC was trapped in the wrong corner, and got beat up for a while, until the match broke down and a brawl broke out on the floor. The brawl left Ospreay and O’Reilly on the floor, and not in position to tag in, so the beating of OC resumed.

OC finally tagged in Ospreay and he cleaned house and just as he was rolling, the match went back into PIP. When the break ended, OC was briefly on the receiving end for a bit, but then the match quickly saw a parade of Flying Dives from both sides.

The fight spilled all the way up the entrance ramp where Ospreay took out PAC with a Flying Somersault Dive off the entrance stage to the floor. PAC got up, and the two of them continued their brawl, as a preview to All Out.

 

Meanwhile, in the ring, OC hit a Flying DDT on Claudio and followed that up with Slumdog Millionaire, and a Beach Break for 2.99.

OC and O’Reilly double-teamed Claudio and O’Reilly clamped on a Guillotine for a very long time, but Claudio fought out of it. He then put O’Reilly in a Giant Swing for several rotations and that was enough to keep O’Reilly down for the count.

After the match, Danielson went to the ring to congratulate his Blackpool Combat Club buddies, but the were all attacked from behind by the Bucks, Perry, and Okada. They looked to end Danielson with a chair shot to the head, but Danielson’s buddies made the save. The BCC stood tall in the ring as the Elite made their way to the back.

Claudio challenged the Bucks to put up their Tag Team Championsihp against him and Yuta at All Out, and the Bucks accepted. Danielson warned Perry that at All Out, Perry was going to have his f’n head kicked in.

Cut to the backstage area where PAC and Ospreay continued brawling. PAC hit a huge Brainbuster on top of a bunch of equipment cases and screamed at Ospreay who was clutching his neck. Christopher Daniels and some refs checked on Ospreay’s condition as PAC left.

Parts of this match were good, but that wasn’t really the point. Rather, it was to further build the PAC-Ospreay heat, and it was pretty effective in that regard.

 Winners: Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Kyle O’Reilly

 

 

All Out main event contract signing

Tony Schiavone was in the ring, where there was a table and chairs set up for the contract signing between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Adam Page, who meet in a Steel Cage match at All In. Swerve and Prince Nana made their way to the ring, and Schiavone thanked them for agreeing to a No Physicality clause for this segment.

Schiavone introduced Page, but he didn’t appear, even when they re-played his entrance music. Instead, Page appeared on the Khan Tron, at Swerve’s childhood house (whose childhood house?). Page said that Swerve screwed up when he revealed that there was something Swerve had an emotional attachment to. Page badmouthed Swerve as he walked all around the house.

As Swerve could only stand and look angry, Page poured a bunch of gasoline in the house, and reminded Serve of the words Swerve had told him: that he had a choice between hate and success, a choice between vengeance and peace.

Page said that there was no choice for him. He said that he told Swerve that there was nothing he wanted more in life than to burn Swerve’s world to the ground. He said he was happy to help cause Swerve lose the World Championship. And on Saturday, he was going to take Swerve’s pride and dignity, by making Serve beg for mercy. But Swerve won’t see any of it.

And with that, Page bid him goodbye. He told Swerve that on Saturday, he’ll have to say goodbye to his health, his career, his joy, and his happiness. But tonight, he’ll have to say goodbye to Swerve’s house. And with that, Page lit the gasoline on fire, and Swerve’s house went up in flames, and Swerve could only look on and seethe in rage as the show came to a close.

This was great, particularly the visual of the house burning and the closing shot of Swerve shocked into an intense rage.

 

 

 

AEW Dynamite - September 4th, 2024
4

UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena - Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee has had its share of visitors, and those who attended this show would probably have little regrets in having made the trip. While not all the segments delivered, the final segment was really good.  On the negative side, the ambivalence of the crowd for Mone is a pretty bad sign.
As a go-home show for a PPV, for the most part, it accomplished what it needed to do.

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