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Two championship matches highlighted the July 6 episode of AEW Dynamite, live from Rochester, New York as Royal Rampage winner Brody King challenged AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley and TNT champion Scorpio Sky defended against Wardlow in a Street Fight.
Who emerged from those two title bouts victoriously, how did first-time teammates Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa fare against the destructive duo of Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir, and what did the dastardly Christian Cage and the monstrous Luchasaurus have in store for the AEW locker room?
Find out with this recap of Wednesday’s TBS broadcast.
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Wardlow continued his monumental 2022 Wednesday night as he challenged Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship in a Street Fight. American Top Team, coach Dan Lambert and “All Ego” Ethan Page accompanied the champion to the ring for the most challenging defense of his career.
Wardlow overcame an early bump over the ring steps, incessant interference on behalf of the heel’s entourage, and a shot to the face with the TNT Championship to mount a comeback and deliver a massive spinebuster to the champ.
Two massive powerbombs later and the big man captured his first title in AEW, pinning Sky with a single foot on his chest.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
#AndNew!!!@RealWardlow is your NEW TNT Champion! Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork right now! pic.twitter.com/ObcpApptSG
This was not a particularly good match, but it did not have to be. There were plenty of bells and whistles as the participants attempted to protect the injured Sky, but it worked within the context of the story.
The heel cheated and relied on his associates, but no shortcut could halt the path of rage Wardlow forged in this match. One of the hottest babyfaces in the industry following his storyline with MJF and victory over the scarf-wearing heel back at Double or Nothing, he absolutely should have won and did, adding another significant achievement early in his still-young career.
Result
Wardlow defeated Sky to win the TNT Championship
Grade
C+ for the match, A+ for the booking
Top Moments
- Excalibur pointed out that the show emanated from Rochester, home of former TNT champion, the late, great Mr. Brodie Lee.
- Sky delivered a low blow early to little effect.
- Lambert tried a sneak attack but the Wardog shrugged it off.
- Excalibur again touted the significance of Rochester, noting it is the second time the TNT title has changed hands in the city (Sammy Guevara on September 29, 2021).
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Matt Hardy interrupted Christian Cage and Luchasaurus’ promo, instigating a one-sided back-and-forth that saw the turtleneck-wearing heel light the former up with insults directed at him, his immediate family, and brother, Jeff.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
.@MATTHARDYBRAND and @Christian4Peeps are not holding back on their words at all. Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork right now! pic.twitter.com/0KnRnOhX27
The relatively brief segment ended with Luchasaurus putting a combative Hardy through a table as fans got their first taste of the placeholder feud until Jungle Boy comes back.
Cage is the definition of fantastic in this role and his promo skills have been on a whole other level. With that said, the knocks about Jeff, though probably cleared ahead of time, were cheap and totally unnecessary.
Sure, they generated heat but The Charismatic Enigma is in a very real fight for his sobriety and using that battle and the seriousness for the sake of some jeers is unnecessary.
Besides, there is plenty to poke fun at or insult about the at times all-over-the-place nature of Matt’s character without crossing that line of good taste.
Add to that the fact that Cage just verbally obliterated Matt, a guy he and Luchasaurus will likely battle in the coming weeks, and you have more than enough reason to find fault with this segment.
Grade
C
Top Moments
- “You’re like the Michael Jordan of being an a**hole,” Hardy said.
- “You’re starting to make your brother sound like the sober one,” Cage said in response, insulting the absent Jeff Hardy.
- “You can’t stand when your name isn’t in the headlines for more than two seconds,” Cage claimed.
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The battle for the top spot in the tag team division continued as the team of Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland battled The Butcher and The Blade.
A sometimes disjointed match featured expected physicality and saw the latter tandem dominate for a large portion of the bout. The babyfaces fought back and scored the win to enhance their argument for an AEW world tag team title opportunity.
A fiery post-match promo from Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs gave way to an interruption from world champs The Young Bucks, who issued a challenge for a three-way title bout next week.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
#TeamTaz (@starkmanjones & @TrueWillieHobbs) are sick of the disrespect from #SwerveInOurGlory, but the #AEW World Tag Team champs @youngbucks are here to put everyone in their place. It’s #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/7ynuoFc8EN
The match was fine, but not quite as good as it should have been given the talent. It often appeared as though the two teams were on different pages, leading to some spots that were just a tad off.
The promo from Team Taz was electric and featured Starks going off on Strickland and Lee with the type of intensity we had yet to see from him to that point. It was straight fire and reflective of a guy who has found himself on the mic. He’s confident, can be cocky or angry, and understands the assignment each and every time.
The three-way between the teams in question (Bucks, Team Taz, and Strickland/Lee) will be extraordinary and, as fans so adeptly pointed out, is lacking one tandem: FTR. Expect the Bucks to retain and set up a showdown with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler over Labor Day weekend in Chicago for All Out.
Following a promo from Malakai Black on tonight’s main event between Jon Moxley and The House of Black’s Brody King, Eddie Kingston joined Tony Schiavone for an in-ring promo.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
.@IAmJericho sends a devastating message to @MadKing1981, as Kingston started to address the crowd here in Rochester, NY. #AEWDynamite is LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/XU3HlHCpT8
After teasing the idea of a first blood match with Chris Jericho, cameras caught up with The Wizard and The Jericho Appreciation Society in the parking garage, where Tay Conti slammed a car door on Ruby Soho’s hand.
AEW has done a great job of establishing the friendship of Kingston and Soho so an angle like this had meaning. Jericho and Kingston deserve an opportunity to settle their differences once and for all, but adding Soho and Conti for a mixed tag is far from a terrible idea.
Result
Strickland and Lee defeated Butcher and Blade
Grade
C for the match;
Top Moments
- “You two are not on our level! You are several levels below us!” Starks exclaimed as he ranted against Strickland and Lee.
- “Oh wait, I don’t have to apologize for anything…we started this damn company,” Matt Jackson said. “Everyone is eating well but let us not forget who set the table in the first place.”
- The Bucks dismissing the crowd’s chants of FTR was a great bit of foreshadowing for what should be a legitimate main event option for the upcoming All Out PPV.
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The Dark Order’s John Silver, Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, Pres10 Vance, Anna Jay and Brodie Jr. (-1) hit the ring in the hometown of the late, great Mr. Brodie Lee and announced that the faction is here to stay.
This brought out QT Marshall, who talked trash and took a beating courtesy of the group and Hangman Page before the babyfaces stood tall.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
We think @QTMarshall deserved all of that… #AEWDynamite is LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/hmRsJv7Mvs
Back in the squared circle, Penta Oscuro sought to avenge his brother, Rey Fenix, who was beaten down and disgraced via unmasking by Andrade El Idolo and Rush. Oscuro battled the latter, a former Ring of Honor world champion, in singles competition.
Oscuro rolled entering the commercial break but Rush downed him and controlled the action throughout the picture-in-picture timeout.
The masked antihero fought back into the match and appeared to be rolling following a package piledriver. Andrade put his La Faccion Ingobernables teammate’s foot on the rope, preventing the count, then provided a distraction that allowed Rush to deliver a low blow, unmask Penta and score the tainted win.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
A highway robbery of a victory for #LaFaccionIngobernable’s @rushtoroblanco here on #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/3RDplEVN1Y
The match, like most of the night’s in-ring action to this point, felt a step off. Both men are great wrestlers and have shown as much across numerous countries, but this did not quite live up to the expectations when the match was announced late Wednesday.
The finish certainly escalates the rivalry and sets up a future tag match between the two tandems that, hopefully, will be better and meet those lofty expectations set by fans who know all too well what everyone involved is capable of.
Result
Rush defeated Oscuro
Grade
C+
Top Moments
- Jim Ross imploring referee Bryce Remsburg not to ask Andrade if he cheated because “he’s gonna lie to you,” was hilarious. Intentionally or not.
- The commentary team nonchalantly announced the Ring of Honor World Championship Match between Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal for the upcoming ROH Death Before Dishonor on July 23.
- Backstage, “Smart” Mark Sterling challenged Orange Cassidy to a match with Tony Nese and if Freshly Squeezed loses, he must sign a petition to remove Swerve Strickland from the AEW roster. Danhausen cameoed and hilarity ensued.
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A week after dissension between The Acclaimed and The Gunn Club reigned supreme, the two teams sought to put their differences behind them as they battled Leon Ruff, Bear Country and Fuego del Solo in eight-man tag action.
The match was little more than a showcase for the breakdown in friendship between the aforementioned tandems. Despite The Acclaimed doing the work, it was Austin Gunn who selfishly tagged himself in and scored the victory for his team.
A post-match betrayal from Billy Gunn on The Acclaimed, proving that blood is indeed thicker than water, solidified what many have expected was coming for weeks now: a babyface turn for Anthony Bowens and Max Caster.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
Interesting developments after the bell between the #GunnClub and #TheAcclaimed here on #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork! pic.twitter.com/ZfWOPbsmRi
The Acclaimed has been red-hot and is routinely generating some of the biggest, loudest and most passionate responses in AEW. The time is here to turn them babyface and reap the rewards.
Best of all, AEW is resisting the urge to push them too hard, too fast by having them work with a team like Gunn Club, who they should dispatch and begin their ascent up the tag ranks. Kudos to Austin, Colten and Billy, though, who have been very effective in helping necessitate the turn.
Result
The Gunn Club and The Acclaim defeated Ruff, Sol and Bear Country
Grade
C+
Top Moments
- Bowens failing to fully realize what had occurred attempted to appeal to Billy Gunn with his trademark finger scissoring, only to be dropped with a Fameasser.
- The commentary team did a great job of putting over the recent transformation of Bear Bronson, who looks to be in the best condition of his career.
Bear Bronson @bearbronsonBC
“If you keep losing weight you’re not gonna be a bear anymore”
I’ve been working to change & be the best athlete/healthiest version of myself that I can be.
“Bear” has always been about whats in my heart & is my own story, it was never an excuse to be an out-of-shape wrestler.
- The heels cutting off Caster’s pre-match rap generated unbelievable heat, proving just how popular his shtick has become.
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The newly formed tandem of AEW World Women’s champion Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm battled Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir in tag team action.
The heels cut Storm down and worked her over during the commercial break, establishing dominance until the Aussie was able to take advantage of a momentary opening and make the hot tag to Rosa.
The champ and her former top contender came back and Rosa put Shafir away with the Thunder Fire Driver for the pinfall victory.
The match, like the rest on the show to this point, was perfectly acceptable but lacked the overall quality we have come to expect from AEW.
The fire from Rosa was great and Storm continues to be one of the more consistent performers in the division, but the match did little more than introduce the idea of Storm and Rosa as a tag team and, as the commentary team hinted afterward, sell some T-shirts.
Result
Thunderstorm defeated Rose and Shafir
Grade
C+
Top Moments
- Following the win, Excalibur hinted that a new shirt for Thunderstorm will likely be up on Shop AEW very soon. Ironically enough, that feels like the entire purpose of bringing the two babyfaces together. Otherwise, there was very little in the way of explanation for why they would suddenly be an effective team, let alone able to beat the opposition in their first go-round.
- Daniel Garcia challenged Wheeler Yuta for the Ring of Honor Pure Championship at Death Before Dishonor on July 23.
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William Regal warned that Brody King was a tremendously dangerous challenger for AEW Interim World champion and Blackpool Combat Club member Jon Moxley and the big man of The House of Black wasted little time proving it.
He dominated the match early and often, cutting Moxley down and wrestling control of the match away from the champ following a side suplex on the entrance ramp that saw the tenacious babyface’s tailbone crash into the elevated, diamond-plated part of it.
Every time Moxley attempted a sustained comeback, King cut him off. He put Moxley to sleep in the ropes, then followed with a corner cannonball, but could not put the champ down. Moxley eventually delivered the Paradigm Shift, added the hammer and nail elbows, and applied the bulldog choke.
King escaped but Moxley reapplied the hold for the win via referee’s decision.
The match was rushed considerably to meet television time and the show still ran over by two minutes. As such, it did not have the time to really breathe and develop into the badass battle between two ferocious competitors that it could have been.
The fans in Rochester reacted accordingly, finding it difficult to fully engross in without a defined comeback.
The match was a great representation of the show as a whole in that the potential was certainly there but not everything clicked and the result was so-so rather than the fantastic championship clash between two wholly unique performers that it could have been.
That the finish came out of nowhere after 10 minutes of King dominating did not help the narrative, either.
Result
Moxley defeated King to retain the AEW Interim World Championship
Grade
B-
Top Moments
- In a pre-taped promo, FTR issued a challenge to The Briscoes for a rematch at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor PPV, drawing a positive reaction from the fans.
- William Regal joined Taz, Excalibur, and Jim Ross at the commentary position and wasted little time putting over the challenge that King presents Moxley.
- King chopped Moxley and dropped him to his knees in a moment of dominance. Mox responded by coming face-to-face with his top contender and instigating an exchange of forearms.