AEW Dynamite Live Coverage - May 25th, 2022
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AEW Dynamite
This week, it's the last DYNAMITE before DOUBLE OR NOTHING! AEW returns to Las Vegas for an anniversary event!
:aew:
– This week's show kicks off with the usual Dynamite theme song and cold open video package and then we shoot inside the arena in Las Vegas where Jim Ross welcomes us to the show.
He introduces his partners on commentary for this week's DoN go-home show and then sends it down to Justin Roberts inside the ring.
Steel Cage Match: Shawn Spears vs. Wardlow with MJF as the special referee
MJF cannot find the key for Wardlow’s handcuffs to start with, and while he is ‘searching,’ Shawn Spears begins attacking him. MJF then finds the key, but rather than unlocking him, he starts putting a beating onto Wardlow as well. The two men then work together with a double team, sending Wardlow into the steel face-first.
Wardlow then starts fighting back against Spears, getting one over him, but he’s not able to touch MJF. However, that’s no problem for him, as he snaps the handcuffs himself. He then nails Spears with several clotheslines before sending him crashing into the steel structure himself.
Shawn tries to climb the structure but Wardlow smashes him into the steel, and as he falls back down Wardlow hits his Swanton Bomb, but MJF won’t count the pinfall. Wardlow then looks to nail a Powerbomb, but as he lifts him up MJF hits a low blow, which is followed by the C4. MJF goes for a fast count, but Wardlow still kicks out, going against that plan!
Spears then brings in a chair, but as he tries to hit his opponent, Wardlow moves, and instead, the Chairman hits his friend, MJF with a headshot. With Spears all alone, he quickly becomes the victim of the Powerbomb Symphony! Wardlow hits three and a new referee makes his presence known! Wardlow then hits another Powerbomb onto the chair and he simply stands on him to get the three count.
Winner: Wardlow
– After the match, Wardlow looks to hit a Powerbomb on MJF, but the security gets in to stop it as he crawls out of the cage to escape. However, Wardlow showcases his strength by taking them all out before climbing to the top of the cage to point at his Double Or Nothing opponent.
– The Jericho Appreciation Society are shown walking into the arena as they see a member of staff with a Jon Moxley t-shirt. This leads to Chris Jericho throwing a fireball in his face…because he’s a wizard.
Hangman Page & CM Punk Face-To-Face
CM Punk says it is safe to say the biggest moment of his career happened in Las Vegas, and he plans on respectfully walking out the champion this Sunday. Hangman Page says he told him what he wasn’t going to do to him, and he didn’t stutter. There’s nothing Punk can do to him to take the title away from him.
Punk isn’t sure why the champion is taking this personally as he is possibly the toughest SOB on this roster, and there’s a locker room full of people waiting. Punk says this is just business and isn’t personal for him. The champion then takes the microphone from Tony Schiavone and he repeats what he said several weeks ago about wanting to destroy and embarrass Punk.
He didn’t mean at Double Or Nothing, he meant right now. He’s been waiting months for this moment, and he imagined himself sitting up the ramp cross-legged to deliver his own pipebomb. But he realized in this moment he can’t do it, and not because he’s afraid of being fired or afraid of Punk.
He says it’s exactly what Punk would do, and feeding his pettiness and cowardness isn’t the right thing for him to do. He doesn’t hate Punk, he pities him and he has no respect for what he’s done since he got here. Page doesn’t think Punk gets it, it’s about what happens when the red light turns off, it’s about the quiet moments when nobody is watching. He says Punk talks a big game about workers, but he’s shown the opposite since he got here.
Hangman says this is home, and on Sunday he will be defending All Elite Wrestling from Punk! The challenger once again says he doesn’t know why Page is angry. If he’s so upset that he is here, then Page will have to do something about it on Sunday, he respects the champion but the roads he traveled to get here were paved by him.
He says this house that Page built was made from lumber of trees he chopped down, Punk says he gave him the blueprint, and he says he will shake his hand right now. Hangman isn’t interested in that and Punk pushes him so the champion drops him with a punch.
Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston vs. Private Party
As Private Party make their entrance they immediately get jumped by their opponents as this one gets started immediately. The Blackpool Combat Club member and Eddie Kingston take control early on in this one with frequent tags. But Private Party responds with a double dropkick to Moxley.
Jon fires back with a huge clothesline at Kassidy as he then dumps him out of the ring. The brawl continues outside with Kingston and Quen, while Moxley locks in a Cloverleaf to Kassidy inside the ring. Kassidy tries to fire back with a few elbow strikes and that leads to Quen tagging in as he dives in with a huge clothesline.
Marq sends his opponents outside the ring and the Private Party members then take them out again with dives. Isaiah drops Moxley in the ring with Quen coming in with a Shooting Star Press from the top rope, but Moxley kicks out. The duo look for silly string but Moxley responds with a lariat while Kingston takes out Quen with a back elbow. They both then attack their opponents before the Paradigm Shift for the win.
Winners: Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
– After the match, the JAS jump their Double Or Nothing rivals, but Santana, Ortiz, and Bryan Danielson make the save as they all begin brawling.
ROH Tag Team Championship Match: FTR vs. Roppongi Vice
Cash Wheeler takes control well early with some shoulder tackles, but Rocky Romero shows his own abilities with several quick pinfall attempts as he then looks to go for an arm submission but Cash wriggles away. Both men tag out and Dax Harwood then drops Trent with a shoulder tackle before Trent fires back with some chops.
The two men then go back and forth with them as Dax eventually comes out on top and he tags in Wheeler, lifting him up and dropping him down onto his opponent. Trent and Romero work together to take control though, and Wheeler has to use a rope break to avoid being pinned.
Cash fires back with an inverted atomic drop, but Trent immediately tags in and keeps Wheeler isolated. They hit a double suplex but the FTR star kicks out to stay in this one. Cash finally makes hashtag though and Harwood comes in hot with lots of strikes to both of his opponents.
Trent then sends Harwood sternum-first into the turnbuckle and he hits a German suplex, but the FTR man then switches and hits a couple of his own. Dax eventually nails the third one, but Rocky breaks the bridge pinfall attempt with a stomp. Roppongi Vice then hit double knees to Harwood and Rocky then goes out and takes down Cash.
Back in the ring Harwood fights back and he then goes for a few near falls on Trent, but he doesn’t quit. Vice then connects with Strong Zero, but Harwood kicks out. Jeff Cobb and the Great-O-Khan then hit the ring out of nowhere and they start making their presence known. The United Empire take out everybody in the ring, showcasing their quality.
They then start smashing people through tables outside the ring as the New Japan Pro Wrestling stars grab the ROH Tag Team Titles and hold them above their heads.
– Matt Hardy says they and The Young Bucks have got a lot of similarities from their upbringing, but The Young Bucks would never have survived that. He puts them over as being elite, but he says everyone sees them as Hardy cosplayers. Jeff says they’re in their overprime and this is his clean slate. He says the final run will be the best run as the Bucks are in their way to becoming champions. Matt says in the case of the Bucks, they’ll be disappointed as they could never beat their heroes.
Swerve Strickland vs. Ricky Starks vs. Jungle Boy
Ricky Starks gets out of the ring to start and Swerve Strickland and Jungle Boy then shake hands. But as that is happening Starks pushes them into each other and the trio then go through a few pinfall attempts. Jungle tries to run up the ropes by holding Swerve, but he pulls him back and lifts him up, and throws him into a hurricanrana onto Starks.
Ricky then pulls the champion out of the ring and he threads the needle and takes out Jungle Boy. Strickland then tries to get involved, but he gets sent into the barricade several times. Ricky gets into the ring and hits a vertical suplex onto Jungle Boy. He then runs up and walks the rights before dropping the elbow on Jungle Boy as he knocks Swerve away again.
Swerve comes back in with an elbow to the FTW Champion as he follows by diving off the second rope into his back. They then brawl on the ring apron but Starks gets kicked in the face only for Jungle Boy to leap the top rope and hit a hurricanrana onto Swerve. Back in the ring he nails him with a running elbow strike but Starks breaks the pinfall.
All three men then climb to the top rope, but Starks gets shoved to the floor by both of them. Jungle Boy flips Strickland across the ring, but somehow he lands on his feet. Ricky comes back in and the three of them start throwing big kicks at each other. Serve has Jungle Boy up in the air but Starks nails a Spear to stop it.
Strickland gets hit with a thumb to the eye by Ricky and he then connects with the Roshambo, but Jungle Boy appears from behind and locks in the Snare Trap. Swerve breaks it with a huge superkick and he then nails the Swerve Stomp for the win!
Winner: Swerve Strickland
– Post-match Powerhouse Hobbs comes in and takes down all his future opponents as Luchasaurus comes down. That doesn’t take long for Kieth Lee to come out, and the three bigger men start brawling. Keith ends up standing tall, and he flips over the rope to take them both down again.
– Dan Lambert says there’s an invention called the internet, if they searched for his faction, you’ll see they have all the titles, so he knows the title makers. Lambert says the brand new belt will be presented to Scorpio Sky on Rampage.
– Tony Schiavone is on the stage now and he welcomes out Thunder Rosa, she says she’s worked for everything she has and never complained as that is what champions do. She says Serena is not a champion, she tells her that maybe she should have looked herself in the mirror and blamed herself. Rosa claims she doesn’t look up to Deeb anymore and on Sunday the war paint comes on, and she will teach her a lesson of respect.
– Red Velvet says she should have won her tournament match, Ruby Soho then appears and she gives a book to her with everything she needs to beat Kris Statlander. But Ruby throws the book away and says she will keep some of that stuff in mind.
Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Semi-Final: Dr. Britt Baker vs. Toni Storm
Toni Storm takes control early on here by working the arm of the former World Champion, bringing her down to the mat, but Britt works her way out and they then lock up again. The match spills to the outside and Storm sends Baker into the ring post and then several big uppercuts, but Britt responds by slamming her into the ring apron.
The ladies continue fighting outside of the ring, but Baker is able to slam Storm face-first onto the steel stairs. Baker then opts to pull Toni’s arms as she is locked with the ring post to hurt the shoulder of the new star. They finally get back into the ring and Baker continues to focus on the arm.
Toni begins throwing hands with Britt though, but Baker comes out on top with a thrust kick only for Toni to hit a tornado DDT. She follows with an impressive hip attack, but Baker then connects with an Air Raid Crash, which only gets a near fall. Jamie Hayter then heads out to ringside, but as Britt starts talking to her Storm almost catches her with roll-up.
Baker then hits a swinging neck breaker, and she then ends up eating a German suplex. The match spills outside once again as Storm hits another tornado DDT to the flood, but Hayter then gets on the ring apron. Storm knocks her off, and tries to hit the Storm Zero. Britt counters, sitting down on her as she gets a pinfall win while holding the ring ropes.
Winner: Britt Baker
Samoa Joe vs. Kyle O’Reilly (Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Semi-Final)
Straight away Kyle O’Reilly goes down to the mat and tries to bring Samoa Joe down to him, but he just powers back with that. The ROH Television Champion then drops Kyle with a huge chop to the chest and he follows it with several efficient jabs. He slams Kyle down, hits a chop to the back, and then a senton as his strikes continue.
Kyle O’Reilly gets his way finally by taking Joe down to the mat as he looks for a cross-arm breaker, but Joe gets the ropes. Kyle follows it with a few strikes of his own until Joe rolls out of the ring as the fight continues. Joe gets sat down on a chair as Kyle continues hitting blows, but he gives Joe too much time and responds with a massive punch.
He then charges in with a boot across the face of Kyle, but back in the ring, O’Reilly regains control by grinding down on the jaw of Joe. He also focuses on the arm of Joe, before throwing more puches and strikes. Joe catches Kyle’s leg but he slaps his way out of that until Joe just charges in at the legs to drop his opponent with the sweep.
Joe hits an atomic drop, a big boot, and then a senton combination but Kyle is still able to kick out. Kyle hits another couple of kicks but Joe responds with a monstrous lariat that forces O’Reilly to kick out at the last second. Joe then looks for the Muscle Buster but Kyle gets out and locks in the armbar, yet Joe reaches the ropes.
The two men continue to go back and forth with kicks and strikes which includes a huge knee shot from Joe. Kyle falls back to the bottom rope and bounces back with a lariat only to eat a Pele kick, and both men are down! Joe then looks for the STO but Kyle reverses and he ends up going for a roll-up only for Joe to reverse it into the Coquina Clutch, and just like that it’s over.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Adam Cole is at the top of the entrance ramp running his mouth to Joe as the show goes off the air.
