AEW Dynamite Live Coverage - January 12th, 2022
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AEW Dynamite
DYNAMITE is live from Raleigh on TBS! Sammy Guevara defends his newly won Interim TNT Championship against Daniel Garcia. With MJF refusing to face CM Punk, the #2 ranked Wardlow battles Punk in MJF's place. The rivalry between Hikaru Shida and Serena Deeb continues to intensify as they meet in a rematch. Plus, Team Taz is out for revenge when Powerhouse Hobbs takes on Dante Martin with Lio Rush in his corner.
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– We are kicking off tonight’s show with Adam Cole, bay bay. He is flanked by Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. He says 2021 was a great year for the three of them, but 2022 will be better. Cole reminds everyone that he hasn’t been pinned or made to submit in AEW. He also says the boys are back together and they are the baddest team on God’s green.
Cole says it is a new era here in AEW. However, he is interrupted by The Young Bucks. Matt says he kicked COVID’s ass in two days and says he would come and join them and he thanks them for the invite. Kyle O’Reilly says nobody invited them before either, and they didn’t need help beating the ‘Super Friends.’
Matt tells them that this is their company, and they are the longest-reigning Tag Team Champions in history. Kyle says that is funny as they have the same resolution. Bobby Fish claims there isn’t a single team that will stop them from getting the titles and that includes The Bucks.
Adam Cole says this is what we need, friendly competition. He says that is what makes them the greatest faction in AEW history. Best Friends then make their way down to the ring. Orange Cassidy doesn’t have anything to say, instead, he jumps Cole and all the members begin brawling. However, a low blow from Cole takes advantage for his team.
Cole looks for the Superkick, but Kris Statlander gets in the way…that is until Britt Baker appears and she takes out Statlander with a Curb Stomp, while she sets up Cassidy for the Boom by Adam Cole. He poses for the Young Bucks kick spot, but Baker stops them and she kisses her boyfriend instead.
Wardlow w/MJF vs. CM Punk
CM Punk immediately slides out of the ring and looks to face off with MJF, but Wardlow also slides out and stands in the middle. Inside of the ring, Wardlow’s power and strength is too much early on as he throws Punk into the corner before dropping him with a shoulder tackle. However, Punk responds with a few strikes in the corner, only for a clubbing blow from Wardlow to drop him.
The bigger man continues his dominance, working the shoulder. However, he takes too long and Punk attacks the knee, but Wardlow’s power is too much again as he launches Punk into the corner as he spills to the floor. Punk continues to fight back with an attempted tornado DDT, but Wardlow shrugs him off mid-move.
Wardlow looks for the powerbomb, but Punk escapes and catches him with a kick to the head. He follows up with several more shots and he charges with several clotheslines but Punk can’t take the bigger man down. He eventually hits the springboard clothesline and that does the trick!
Punk then goes for his classic knee to the head in the corner. He connects but MJF then gets his head, and with Punk distracted, Wardlow hits a powerbomb. He then follows that up with a second one and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth! Wardlow looks for the pin, but MJF gets on the apron and demands he does more damage.
Wardlow gets him up again and nails a sixth powerbomb. However, MJF demands more. He goes along with the order and nails a seventh. He rolls out of the ring and Wardlow goes around, but MJF clears the timekeeper’s table and demands he puts Punk through it. Wardlow is visibly not happy about it, but he powerbombs Punk through the table.
Despite the beatdown, Punk somehow manages to get in the ring before the 10 count. MJF then demands another powerbomb happens. Wardlow slowly goes for another, but Punk gets the inside cradle and he defeats Wardlow!
Winner: CM Punk
– After the match, MJF goes crazy with Wardlow, but he grabs his hand and seems to be losing his cool until Shwan Spears hits the ring. He comes between them and calms things down as they all head to the back.
Powerhouse Hobbs w/Ricky Starks vs. Dante Martin
Dante Martin sprints to the ring and the two men start brawling outside of the ring. Hobbs sends his opponent into the ring but Martin connects with several kicks before he launches himself at Hobbs, sending them both out of the ring. However, as Dante tries to come off the ring apron, Hobbs catches him and nails a spine buster on the outside.
Hobbs then plans Martin to the mat several times, and while the smaller man tries to fight back, he is instantly set back to the mat with a clothesline. Hobbs then locks in a torture rack submission, but Martin breaks out only to be leveled with a clothesline.
Hobbs then launches his opponent into the turnbuckle and out of the ring as Ricky Starks begins attacking while the official isn’t looking. Back inside of the ring, Hobbs just continues attacking and mocking his opponent. However, he fights back with an elbow strike and a high boot.
Martin then ens up back in the torture rack, but once again Martin gets out of it and several strikes help him. This is followed up by a missile dropkick. With Hobbs on the outside, Dante hits the tornado. When Hobbs tries to get in the ring, Martin attacks him. However, Hobbs responds by simply charging into him.
Starks then tries to cheat again, but Jay Lethal appears and pulls him away. Martin then connects with the Nose Dive and secures the win.
Winner Dante Martin
– Chris Jericho is shown backstage and says it is an honor that The Inner Circle got named faction of the year. He says since day one they promised to dominate the country and company. He says Sammy Guevara will win tonight. Eddie Kingston then appears and he says he doesn’t care about that. He’s bothered about his injured knee.
Eddie tells Santana and Ortiz the reason they’ve not been champions is Jericho. He tells them that they’re a family. The rest of the group walk away and leave them two together. Jericho says he will be ringside tonight and if 2point0 get involved he will fight them. He says if Eddie gets involved, he might fight him too.
– MJF then storms out and congratulates CM Punk, but says he is in a world of pain and got powerbombed to oblivion. He says Punk got a fluke victory over an oaf tonight. MJF says next week he will personally make sure Punk gets his first L. He says next week it is the match everyone wants…CM Punk vs. Shawn Spears.
– Adam Cole’s group are backstage as he says it has gotten silly with Best Friends. He tells Kris if she thought they were safe, they should think again. Britt Baker appears and challenges her and Orange to a mixed-tag next week.
– Adam Page then appears and says over the past two months he’s spent 90 minutes into the ring against one of the best in the world. He’s poured sweat and bled, all for the title. However, Page says 90 minutes isn’t enough. He needs a new challenger. This leads to Dan Lambert appearing and Page says, ‘oh god, shoot me.’
He didn’t come here to hear from a walking Facebook profile like Lambert. However, he says the matches Page and Danielson are some of the best he’s ever seen. He says he respects him for not taking the Cody Rhodes path with backstage politics. He says Page has earned everything other than the persona he’s using as his gimmick.
Lambert says the guy in the Village People can say he’s a cowboy but it doesn’t make it true. He tells him to stop disrespecting the legacies of people like Blackjack Mulligan. He says people doing that come across as full of cowboy sh*t. Page says living with cattle isn’t cowboy sh*t? Turning down a six-figure contract to start a new company isn’t cowboy sh*t?
However, as Lambert tries to leave, Lance Archer returns! He looks like he’s going to attack Lambert, but he then takes out the champion. Lambert scurries away as Archer uses a chair to attack him, with Archer hitting the Blackout on the chair, leaving the champion laying.
– Arn Anderson is then shown with his son and Lee Moriarty, he tells them it is horseman country. But then Tully Blanchard arrives and says if he wants to feel it again, he needs to ditch the deadwood. FTR suggests a ta team match, and Anderson’s men agree.
Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb
As Hikaru Shida is making her entrance, Serena Deeb chases her and takes out her knee. She then continues that by using the steel stairs, getting the advantage before the bell rings. Once Shida gets in, the attack on the knee continues, with Serena using the ropes to her advantage in order to be even more creative and dangerous. Deeb then rips away Shida’s knee pad and slams it into the mat. Deeb locks in a submission focusing on the knee, and the referee ends the match.
Winner: Serena Deeb
After the match, Shida is mad at the official for finishing the match as the doctor comes in to check on her. However, Deeb gets the kendo stick and beats down on Shida’s injured area until officials pull her back.
– Jurrasic Express are shown backstage and they say that they’re ready to defend the titles against any team in the top five. The Dark Order then appear and they challenge them to a match, which becomes official for Rampage.
– Matt Hardy is in the ring and says he is sorry that Rey Fenix got injured. But tonight in his hometown and in front of his beautiful family, he is going to delete Penta to send him to the hospital to be with his brother.
Matt Hardy vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
The two men start out doing their catchphrases towards each other with the fans being behind both. Penta takes off his glove and stops it, and then takes down Penta with a clothesline. However, he ends up walking straight into a superkick after which he follows up with a series of chops to the chest. Matt responds well though and lays in several of his own.
Penta ends up sending Matt to the outside with a thrust kick, but as he tries to launch out of the ring, Matt stops him with a right hand. He launches Penta into the barricade and takes control. Matt then drops an elbow from the second rope, but that doesn’t get the job done as Penta kicks out.
Hardy knocks him down once again with an elbow strike, this time following up with a leg drop before the Delete attacks into the turnbuckles. Matt drops his opponent with a DDT, but once again the former Tag Team Champion kicks out. Hardy then sets Penta onto the top rope, but he slips underneath him and kicks out the ankle of Matt and then gets stomped from the top, but Hardy kicks out.
The two men then exchange punches on the ring apron, but Matt Hardy comes out on top with a Side Effect. This time it is Penta kicking out! On the top rope, Matt goes for the moonsault press but Penta moves and follows up with the Fear Factor.
Winner: Penta El Zero Miedo
After the match, Pentagon and Alex Abrahantes send Malakai Black. He says he will teach Black some respect. But then the lights go out and Black appears. He takes down Alex and then hits Penta with some superkicks. He tries to rip his mask off, but the Varsity Blondes then appear and help out. Julia Hart tells them to stop. The lights go out again and Brody King is here!
He lays all three men to waste with Black and King then working together. They stand together and then leave.
– Kris Statlander then talks with Tony Schiavone backstage about the mixed tag team match. But Layla Hirsch questions if that is selfish of her to focus on that before their Rampage match. Red Velvet tells them to get it together.
The Acclaimed vs. Bear Country
Straight away Bear Country take both men down with their power advantage. They lift up The Acclaimed and simply drop them onto each other as they take control. The two big men continue working together with fast tags and double teams, but they then get pushed into each other by Anthony Bowens. He rocks Boulder with a superkick as Max Caster launches himself in from the top rope.
The Acclaimed then make several tags as they continue to work Bronson over in the corner. Bowens looks to to lift up Bear Bronson but he can’t do it, and he ends up sitting on him as both men make a tag. Bear Boulder takes down both of his opponents. He launches the two of them around and then hits a double flatliner. They look for the Bear Bomb, but The Acclaimed avoid it.
Bowens hits an elbow strike to Boulder, but he is then launched to the floor himself. However, while he’s on the outside he pulls him down onto the top rope while the referee isn’t looking. This allows Caster to follow with the Mic Drop.
Winners: The Acclaimed
As they make their way up the ramp…Sting arrives! But as they back away, Darby Allin appears on the other side and he launches through the ropes with a skateboard to take out Caster. Meanwhile, Sting uses his bat to hit Bowens. Inside the ring Sting connects with the Scorpion Deathdrop as the duo sends a message.
– PAC is then seen in a video package. He says his perspective is different now, and his vision has never been so clear as he holds a card that says justice on it.
– Matt Hardy says he is frustrated. He talks about possibly having to focus on himself as something has to change. Andrade then appears and tells him he needs to focus as they hand him a water. He wants to negotiate a deal with Matt and they head to his office. But Matt tells Private Party to stay.
Interim TNT Championship Match: Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Daniel Garcia
Both men waste no time in starting things off here as they brawl inside the ring. Garcia hits a huge kick to the back, but Sammy does the same and then they exchange big slaps before Sammy sends his opponent to the outside as he follows up with a huge dive.
Back inside the ring, Garcia regains control with a backbreaker, which sends Sammy to the outside. He then drives the champion into the ring apron, but that isn’t enough to get the win. He then locks in the Boston Crab, but Sammy makes it to the ropes. He then moves into the bow and arrow submission, but Sammy counters with a lateral press.
While Garcia kicks out, he immediately follows it with a clothesline. He continues to attack the back, but Sammy then nails a clothesline of his own before charging into him in the corner. Sammy looks to leap into him but Daniel goes outside of the ring. That’s not enough though, with Sammy bouncing on the other top rope before flipping out of the ring to connect with Garcia.
Sammy then looks for another top rope move, but Garcia pulls his legs from the turnbuckle and the back of Guevara’s neck bounces off it. Garcia drops him down to the mat again, but the interim champion kicks out. Sammy hits a pump kick, but Garcia then sets in the Scorpion Deathlock as this continues to go back and forth.
Guevara avoids the charge in the corner and then hits the Cross Rhodes, but Garcia kicks out! Sammy looks to bounce into the cutter, but Garcia sees it coming and he locks in a sleeper. He then transitions and hits a piledriver, but Sammy kicks out!
However, on the outside, 2pointo arrive and they jump Jericho and Kingston. Despite that, Sammy takes control, but he has to deal with distractions from 2pointo on the outside. He manages to knock down both men and then hit the GTH to retain.
Winner: Sammy Guevara
After the match, 2point0 try to jump the champion, but Jericho and Kingston level things up only for them two to end up arguing a the show ends.
