It was a great idea to put Chris Jericho on as a guest commentator. In addition to being one of the all-time greats, Jericho is showing that he is legitimately a great commentator. Because he is still a performer, he can accentuate others’ personality traits even more than a traditional announcer would be able to do. As a result, Jericho makes wrestlers in AEW look like even bigger stars (Orange Cassidy is the primary beneficiary of that right now, and to a lesser extent Pineapple Pete).
To begin the night, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus got a tag team victory over MJF and Wardlow. This match could have gone either way – it makes sense because Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are more established stars at this point in time. With that being said, fans already know what these two guys are capable of. The same can be said for MJF – and as a result, Wardlow is the man who stood out most in this match. Not a whole lot of people realized he was quite as versatile as he showed – including me.
Penelope Ford is someone who has stepped up in a huge way for AEW in the last few months since the pandemic hit the United States and the company dwindled down to about 1/3 its normal size. She capped off this stretch with an incredible athletic performance against AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida. This was a classic example of the phenomenon “you don’t necessarily have to go over to get over.” Penelope Ford unselfishly gave herself to the business and Tony Khan took notice by giving her a major push as a result. It goes to show that life will give a person rewards based on exactly how much effort they put in. You reap what you sew – and Penelope planted some beautiful seeds over the past few months by being of great service to others – that’s what life is all about.
At the top of the hour, Cody successfully defended the TNT Championship (AEW’S version of the television championship) against Jake Hager
It’s interesting because Cody pinned Jake in classic heel fashion despite being a babyface which might mean a shift in attitude for Cody in the coming months. This would make sense because Cody has been a face ever since Dynamite started in October 2019.
It was probably the greatest pure wrestling match Cody has had on Dynamite since it started nine months ago, and definitely for Hager.
Private Party defeats Santana and Ortiz – Earning an AEW World Tag Team Title Shot
These guys are more and more impressive every time I see them. Marq Quen caught the eyes of the wrestling world in his TNT Championship match with Cody, and Isaiah Cassidy jumped off the screen immediately from the first night Private Party appeared on Dynamite. On the flipside, this was not a very good night at all for Chris Jericho and the rest of The Inner Circle – three of Jericho’s four stablemates lost.
Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page successfully defend the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Best Friends
Best Friends have stepped up in a huge way during the intensive lockdown period with the pandemic (along with Orange Cassidy who most likely benefited more than anyone). I legitimately suspected that Best Friends would reap the fruits of their labor over the past few months by winning the tag team titles. Omega and Page have been champions for almost 6 months so I figured it might be time to switch the titles to another team. However, no one can complain about this decision because Omega and Page work so well together.