AEW Dynamite – Omega wins Match of the Year candidate to stay King of the ‘Jungle’

Bob Kapur

AEW Dynamite – Omega wins Match of the Year candidate to stay King of the ‘Jungle’

Welcome, everyone, to our coverage of AEW Dynamite, taking place on a rare Saturday night. Our regular recapper, Nick Tylwalk, can’t be here tonight (he has a much more active social life than I do), so the responsibility falls on me to go through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The show starts off with video footage from earlier today, when Shawn Spears attacked Sammy Guevara from behind with a chair when Sammy was in the parking lot being interviewed by Alex Marvez. Spears said it was a message from MJF, who faces Sammy this coming Wednesday, when the show returns to its normal night. I guess basketball is over, then?

Match 1: Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Hangman Page

Taz joined the commentary team for this one. Neither Team Taz nor the Dark Order came out during the introductions, so assume they’ll all come out and brawl after the match, because AEW.

Page did all right against Hobbs until they went to the floor and he simply got out-deked by Hobbs who waylayed him with a big clothesline to the back of the head. Hobbs then took over in the ring, working over Page’s arm and hitting him with power moves.

Hobbs whipped him into the corner post, and then things went back and forth, both in and out of the ring.

Page got cut in the back of the head at some point – it looked like it happened when he slipped and fell on the floor at one point (the way it was done, it wasn’t clear if that was planned or not). Page fired up with some kicks to the face, but Hobbs no-sold them. He did sell a Springboard Lariat and a dive to the floor, though.

Excalibur on commentary said that Page’s hair prevented it from flowing into his eyes, even though it was only the hair on the back of Page’s head that was bloody, proving once again that Excalibur is an idiot on commentary, and the rest of this report will ignore anything else he says.

Meanwhile, the match continued, with some more exchanges, including a nice Running Crossbody by Hobbs.

Then, while Hobbs was in full control of the match, Hook and Ricky Starks came to the ring, carrying Brian Cage’s FTW belt, presumably to give it to Hobbs to use. Yes, that Hobbs, who was in full control of the match. Forget FTW, try WTF is with this booking?

Brian Cage ran out, and got into a skirmish with Starks and took back his belt, because no faction can get along on this show, because AEW.

Page went for a Buckshot, but Hobbs countered it with a Spinebuster. Then Hobbs botched what was supposed to be a missed Cross Body and no-sold a German Suplex so that he could instead be pinned after a Deadeye.

Winner: Hangman Page

A video package aired hyping up tonight’s World Title match between challenger Jungle Boy and the Champion, Kenny Omega.

The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler did a taped promo, which I suppose is better than having to watch them wrestle. If Eddie Kingston and Penta beat the Bucks next week, they’ll get a chance to face them again with the Tag Team Championship on the line.

Tully Blanchard and Konnan – Face-to-Face In-ring Interview

Tony Schiavone was in the ring with Tully Blanchard, and then introduced Konnan, who is now managing Santana & Ortiz (now known as Proud & Powerful… too bad they couldn’t use the LAX name). Konnan was wearing a JC Chavez hat, and not a JC Chasez hat like I originally thought, which is good, because Chavez has much more cred than the former NSYNC guy.

This was good. Just two legends having a verbal war of words that felt heated. Konnan did go out of the box a couple of times, trying to bring real-life social issues into the mix, along with some canned one-liners. He’s credible enough that it worked, though it likely wouldn’t have if delivered by someone else.

Konnan called P&P to come to the ring, and they came out covered in hoodies and balaclavas.

But then Tully threw it to the big screen, where P&P were shown laid out on the floor. The Pseudo P&P (PP&P) unmasked and they were FTR. They attacked Konnan, and laid him out with a Spiked Piledriver.

The twist reveal was a bit obvious, but the performances were strong enough that the segment still worked. Dang, Tully is awesome.

Match 2: Dante Martin vs. Matt Sydal (w/ Mike Sydal)

Dante Martin was making his way to the ring for his match, when Vicky Guerrero interrupted, and introduced Andrade El Idolo. She was going to make a big announcement, but got cut off by Matt Sydal’s music, and left. Pointless.

Right after the match started, they talked about Sydal’s twenty years of experience. And then seconds later, Tony Schiavone referred to both competitors as “kids.” He’s got to stop sitting beside Excalibur, because he’s getting sloppy through osmosis.

They started off with some nice quick chain stuff, including a nice Bottom Rope Springboard Dropkick by Dante. At some point during the commercial (I don’t watch the Picture-in-Picture, despite its reputed restaurant-quality), the match spilled to the floor. When the show resumed, Sydal was working over Dante’s legs, and then Dante started working over Sydal’s.

Dante got a near-fall after a Double-Springboard Moonsault, which looked nice. Later, they were fighting on the top turnbuckle, and Sydal pushed Dante down, and nearly got the win after a Flying Meteora. Dante impressed with a sky-high Sunset Flip and a Somersault Stunner, but then tweaked his knee when trying for another aerial assault. Sydal capitalized with a Roundhouse Kick to the face and a Lightning Spiral that kept Dante down for good.

This was a fun, athletic match. I assume there were no heels that weren’t already booked, because that’s the only explanation I have for why they would have two babyfaces have a match on a TV wrestling show.

Winner: Matt Sydal

Jungle Boy was cutting a promo, when Christian Cage came up to him. Cage told him that Jungle Boy shouldn’t simply be happy for getting a title shot, but rather angry because of the way Kenny Omega has been publicly saying that he has no shot at winning the title.

A Mark Stirling and Jade Cargill promo aired, noting that they have a new brand partnership. Now, if you use the code THATB on AEWShop, you’ll get 10% off of Jade Cargill T-shirts. Sadly, I bought my Jade Cargill shirt before this was a thing. #PushJade

Backstage, Alex Marvez was with MJF, Wardlow, and Shawn Spears. They celebrated all the evil things they’ve been doing lately, including MJF attacking Dean Malenko last week. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager ran in and attacked them, leading to a backstage brawl. They made their way up the ramp and into the ring where the numbers game came into play. They had Jericho and Hager down, and were going to bash Jericho’s injured arm with a chair, but Sammy Guevara’s music hit and he ran to the ring. He cleaned house, including missing a knee to the head of Wardlow (he barely got to his chest, but Schiavone Excaliburred that call, saying it was to the side of the head), and then he bashed Wardlow and Spears with a chair (MJF ran away before he could get hit). Sammy said that on their match this Wednesday, he would show MJF that he was the better man. This was really good.

Miro cut a pre-taped promo, during which he threatened Brian Pillman Jr., who challenges him on Wednesday for the TNT Championship. Miro had a good line here: “The bravest thing in your life you’ve done is thinking about attacking me. The stupidest was actually doing it.”

Match 3: Ethan Page (w/ Scorpio Sky) vs. Bear Bronson (w/ Bear Boulder)

Bronson used his power edge to beat up Page early on, including ramming his head into the turnbuckles repeatedly, and then smashing him hard off the apron to the floor. Scorpio pushed Ethan out of the way of an Air Bear flying dive, but then got flattened himself.

Some shenanigans on the floor behind the referee’s back allowed Page to ram Bronson into the ringside barrier, and he took over. After a Picture-in-Picture, Bronson came back, hitting Page with an Avalanche and then a series of Lariats and a One-Handed Chokeslam, but didn’t bother trying for a pin because why bother trying to win a match?

He then crashed on a Senton attempt, and then tried again to go up to, but got Superplexed down, which looked impressive (for the record, Page at least tried for a pin after that, because wrestling).

Later, Bronson was going for another top rope move, when Sky tried to interfere, but Bear Boulder stopped him. The ref decided to ignore the match and watch the action on the floor instead. So Page crotched Bronson and then dropped him with a Release Crucifix Bomb for the pin.

After the match, Page challenged Darby Allin to a Coffin Match at Road Rager on July 7.

This was good. Page is one of the company’s best heels in terms of what he does in the ring and on the mic – he just gets understands how to be a slimy no-good jerk.

Winner: Ethan Page

Britt Baker and Rebel cut a promo on Vicky Guerrero and Nyla Rose, who they face next week. Vicky and Nyla responded with one of their own. Are both of these teams heels? Because that’s the way they both sounded in their promos.

Match 4: The Bunny (w/ the Blade) vs. Kris Statlander (w/ Orange Cassidy)

I typically change the channel whenever Orange Cassidy is on-screen, but for the sake of this report, I watched it. Nick Tylwalk, now you really owe me one.

Statlander was in control early, hitting a Powerslam and Suplex, but then did a headstand on the top rope in an attempt to do something, and the Bunny pushed her to the ground. The Bunny then beat her up on the floor for a bit until the show went into Picture-in-Picture.

She was in control when the commercials ended, and dumped Statlander to the floor again. The Bunny went for a running attack, but Statlander hit a Scoop Powerslam on the floor, which looked nice. Back in the ring, Statlander got the best of a fisticuffs exchange, and then hit a sloppy Twisting Northern Lights Driver. And then a sloppy Blue Thunder Bomb. She was going for the sloppy trifecta with a top rope move, but the Bunny pulled her off the top with a high German Suplex.

Ref shenanigans saw the Blade sneak a pair of brass knuckles to the Bunny, but then Orange Cassidy stole them from the Bunny. After that, Statlander hit Bang Bang Theory (a modified Package Piledriver) on the Bunny to get the pin.

After the match, the Blade attacked Cassidy (flattening Statlander in the process), and then TH2 ran in to make it a 3-on-1 attack. TH2 held up OC, Blade took back the brass knuckles, and cold-cocked Cassidy with them to knock him silly.

As far as the match, I’m a big fan of the Bunny. That is all.

Winner: Kris Statlander

Backstage, Tony Schiavone interviewed QT Marshall, who was not impressed by Brock Anderson’s debut match last week. He is facing Cody Rhodes in two weeks in a South Beach Strap Match. Marshall said that his dream is to get past Cody and ultimately win a championship.

Brian Pillman cut a promo against Miro. This was short, but Pillman displayed some fire and charisma.

Eddie Kingston and Penta (with his translator) cut a promo on the Young Bucks. They warned the Young Bucks that they would take their titles next week.

Match 5: Jungle Boy (w/ Marko Stunt and Luchasaurus) vs. Kenny Omega (c) (w/ Don Callis and the Good Brothers) – for the AWE World Championship

Unfortunately, Don Callis didn’t take over the introductions for Kenny Omega, so we had to listen to the Excalibur of ring announcing, Justin Roberts do his silly “North Carolina” thing, which really shouldn’t be done when Omega is a heel, nor should the extended “O” when pronouncing his name, again, because he’s a HEEL!

Marko Stunt was acting like a goof right at the bell, so the referee sent him and Luchasaurus to the back. Then, when the Good Brothers got all cocky about it, he sent them packing too, much to Kenny’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Callis joined the commentators behind the desk, which is always welcome.

Weirdness to start this one, with Omega running his fingers through Jungle Boy’s hair and tenderly stroking his face. #PrideWeek

They then did some really nice technical exchanges, which looked good. When Jungle Boy went for a flying dive, he got outsmarted by the more experienced Omega, which allowed the champ to take over.

Given the significance of this match, I actually watched the Picture-in-Picture. During the commercial, they fought on the floor. Jungle Boy actually rolled back into the ring at one point to break up the referee’s count, which may have been a first on this show – not the fact that the ref broke the count while they were on the outside, but rather that he was actually counting. Then Omega dropped Jungle Boy onto the ring step, which looked good.

Back from the break, and Omega had Jungle Boy in trouble, just dissecting him with painful moves and chops. But Jungle Boy had fight in him, and after a rollup for a near win, he hit Omega with a big Brain Buster to buy himself some breathing room.

Jungle Boy avoided a Snapdragon Suplex, then sent Omega to the floor where he was prone for a pair of Flying Dives, and then a huge Somersault Dive. He rolled Omega back into the ring, but got caught scaling the ropes, and dropped with a great Superplex off the very top.

Omega then hit a Snapdragon and a V-Trigger, but a One-Winged Angel attempt was countered with a Reverse Hurancarana and a Sliding Lariat for 2-and-7/8ths.

Omega then hit a V-Trigger, Powerbomb, V-Trigger combo, but Jungle Boy kicked out! A frustrated Omega looked for another V-Trigger, but Jungle Boy evaded it, and locked in a Snare Trap.

Seeing Omega trapped, the Good Brothers tried to run to the ring, but Jurassic Express and Frankie Kazarian ran in and stopped them from getting involved. As they brawled, Omega was able to get to the rope to break the hold.

Omega and Jungle Boy exchanged moves, with Omega nearly getting a fall after a Brain Buster. He tried again for a One-Winged Angel, but Jungle Boy turned around and rolled up Omega that looked so good that I originally typed “new champion”. But Omega kicked out at the very last second.

Jungle Boy then avoided another One-Winged Angel attempt and locked on another Snare Trap, with Omega nowhere near the ropes.

Omega pulled the hair to escape the hold, and the commentators said that he also may have raked Jungle Boy’s eyes, but it wasn’t clear from the camera angle.

Jungle seated Omega on the top rope and went for a Hurancarana, but Omega slipped out and dropped him with Super Snake Eyes. Omega then hit Running Knees to the back, and a Tiger Driver for a close fall. But when that didn’t end things, Omega finally got the job done with the One-Winged Angel.

After the match, Omega was planning to run through Jungle Boy with a belt shot to the head, but Christian Cage ran in and stopped him. Then the Matt Hardy Family came in, but Cage fought them off. He was going to drop Matt Hardy with the Killswitch, but the Young Bucks ran in and hit him with stereo Superkicks, knocking him out. Then for good measure, Matt Hardy dropped Christian with the Twist of Fate.

Omega celebrated with the Bucks and the Matt Hardy Family to end the show.

This was a great match that really felt like it could go either way.

Omega gave Jungle Boy a lot of offense, and sold it really well. This may have been my favourite Omega match as AEW Champion, and maybe ever.

At only 24 years old, Jungle Boy has a lot of potential to do great stuff, and if this match was any indication, he should be able to. They really need to remove him from the rest of the Jurassic silliness for him to be taken seriously, and hopefully they start doing that now. They need to capitalize on this one, because it was a star-making match for him.

Keeping the nonsense – outside interference and what-not – was the right call, but they should have also dispensed with the post-match stuff, which was unnecessary and took away from the moment. After the match that he and Omega had – an easy Match of the Year candidate – focusing on the lame Christian-Hardy feud really felt like a disservice to Jungle Boy, who deserved to have his moment.

Winner, and still AEW World Champion: Kenny Omega

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