AEW Dynamite Live Coverage - February 23rd, 2022

[Kemo]

AEW Dynamite

This week on DYNAMITE on TBS, an epic Tag Team Battle Royale to decide the first team to challenge Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at REVOLUTION. Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston finally have a face-to-face confrontation. Undefeated TBS Champion Jade Cargill puts her title on the line against The Bunny. Plus, Malakai Black and Brody King, The Kings of the Black Throne, face Death Triangle’s Penta El Zero Miedo and PAC.

– We're live inside the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, CT. where Jim Ross welcomes us to the show with his trademark, "It's Wednesday night, and you know what that means ..." catchphrase.

Tag-Team Battle Royale

From there, we head down to the ring after fireworks and pyro explode. The theme song for the AEW World Tag-Team Champions make their way out accompanied by Christian Cage. They will be getting a first hand look at the Tag-Team Battle Royale to determine the first opponents who will challenge Jurassic Express for the titles in the triple threat match at the upcoming AEW Revolution pay-per-view.

One member of The Butcher & The Blade is eliminated, as The Blade is tossed over the top. Both members must be eliminated for the team as a whole to be eliminated. Also thrown out is one member of The Gunn Club. A few moments later The Blade is tossed out.

As the action continues, we see Marq Queen thrown over the top. Isiah Kassidy is also tossed out, however Matt Hardy catches him and props him back on the ring apron. He is immediately dropkicked out and eliminated anyways. Matt Hardy ends up walking away from then as they head to the back.

Alex Reynolds of The Dark Order was eliminated a few minutes ago, and Santana from the Proud -N- Powerful duo is the lone member of his team still in the ring, as Ortiz has been eliminated. Nick Jackson gets tossed out, so only one member of The Young Bucks remains. Bobby Fish is eliminated just as Excalibur talks us into a commercial break as the action continues.

When we return from the mid-match commercials, we see Tully Blanchard trying to help FTR eliminate John Silver of The Dark Order only for Cash Wheeler to end up eliminated instead.

We see a stand off between Santana and Trent Beretta which pops the crowd. The commentators remind the viewing audience at home of the Parking Lot Brawl to explain why. We see Kyle O'Reilly and Matt Jackson work together to end up eliminating them both.

O'Reilly and Dax Harwood fight out to the ring apron on the other side of the ring ropes. They continue to duke it out as they teeter back and forth nearing elimination. Bobby Fish, who was already eliminated, ends up yanking Harwood out to eliminate him.

We're down to Matt Jackson and Kyle O'Reilly as the final two, which leads to O'Reilly scoring the final elimination to win the match for reDRagon.

Winners: reDRagon

After the bout we see The Young Bucks head back into the ring to have a stand off with reDRagon. "Hangman" Adam Page's music hits and he makes his way to the ring. From behind, Adam Cole tries a sneak attack only for the AEW World Champion to get the better of him. Page sits down on a steel chair in the ring and asks the crowd who is ready for "storytime with Adam Page ...bay-bay!" to mock Adam Cole. He talks about his recent history as reDRagon and Adam Cole watch from the aisle.

– We head backstage where Tony Schiavone is standing by with Bryan Danielson. He brings up his match tonight and "The American Dragon" vows to give another lesson in violence, this time to Daniel Garcia. He then brings up Jon Moxley and his offer and how he wants his answer tonight. We then head to another commercial break.

– We return from the break to the familiar sounds of MJF's theme song. The Pinnacle leader makes his way to the ring and brings up the picture that Punk showed on last week's show when issuing the dog collar match challenge. He goes on to get emotional and tells a story about being a kid with A.D.D. and how his love for pro wrestling used to be the only thing that got him out of bed in the morning. He says he loves pro wrestling and he loves AEW. MJF then reflects on the picture Punk showed of him on that fateful Friday when he was a young kid. He says he was only one of a couple Jewish kids in his school and tells a story about kids throwing quarters at him as hard as they could while yelling, "pick them up Jew-boy!"

Friedman says he cried himself to sleep that night. Then he woke up and remembered it was Friday and he was going to get to see his hero CM Punk at an autograph signing. He then fast-forwards to the date that CM Punk quit WWE and loses his cool, getting emotional as he yells out, "You left me! You quit on me!" He moves on to the dog collar match and says he can whip him with the chain and make him bleed buckets of blood, but he won't quit like CM Punk did on him. He wraps up with his "I'm better than you, and you know it" catchphrase.

Out comes CM Punk with no music playing. He gets in the ring and looks confused as he tries to see if the emotional MJF is being for real. MJF finally turns and exits the ring and with his head down, walks to the back as we head to another commercial break.

– As we settle back in from the break, we see Team 2point0 and Daniel Garcia backstage with Tony Schiavone. He asks them about the comments from Bryan Danielson earlier this evening. Garcia talks briefly after some opening remarks from Matt Lee and Jeff Parker. He makes it clear that a lesson in violence is something he doesn't need, as he was born and bred in it.

Malakai Black & Brody King vs. PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo

Penta hits two superkicks to Kings Of The Black Throne and follows it up with a dive to the outside. The bell officially rings, and it’s PAC starting things off against Black. Pac hits a powerful 450 Splash, but it’s not enough for the win. PAC tags Penta who hits a series of leg strikes on Black. Penta gets Black back into his corner and gets PAC back into the ring. PAC & Penta are staying on Black giving him no opportunity to tag Brody King.

Brody King’s finally in the match and hammers PAC and goes for the cover. PAC kicks out, but King remains on him with strikes. King gets PAC into his corner and sticks his foot in his neck. Black’s tagged in and hits PAC with a series of leg and knee strikes. Black and King exchange frequent tags to keep PAC isolated from Penta.

King lands a big boot on PAC after sending him running into the ropes. King clubs PAC with blow after blow. King lifts PAC to his feet and hits him with a chop that sends him crashing back to the matt. He goes for the cover, but PAC easily gets his shoulders up.

King delivers another series of clubbing lows to PAC’s back. King uses PAC against Penta to take out both men. King’s firmly in control of the match and lands a suicide dive to both men on the outside. Black’s back in the ring and hits his signature strikes and follows it with a german suplex to PAC. It’s still not enough to keep The Bastard down for the three count.

Penta lands a crossbody on King to take him down. All four men are down and the ref begins the count. Black’s the first to get to his feet and they attempt a double team maneuver. PAC hits King with a pump kick to the jaw, but it’s not enough to take him down. A second one is still unable to take him off his feet. Finally, King’s hit with a german suplex to take him down. However, Black makes a secret tag. Black attempts to use the mist, but he’s stopped by Penta. Penta uses that distraction to get the pinfall on Black for the win.

Winners: PAC & Penta Oscuro

After the match, we see Malakai choke on his mist as Brody continues his assault on PAC and Penta.

Malakai finally recovers from choking on the mist and he grabs a shovel and heads into the ring with it. As he lifts it above the head of his opposition, the lights go out.

When they come back on, we see Buddy Matthews standing in the ring across from Malakai and Brody. The sight of the former WWE Superstar known as Buddy Murphy elicits an enormous pop from the fans in Bridgeport. After a moment or so, we see Matthews turn and beat down PAC and Penta some more.

Malakai and Brody join back in and then they stand tall together to end the surprising post-match scene. We then head to another commercial break.

– When we return from the break, Eddie Kingston makes his way to the ring and settles in as we see security guards standing against the ropes.

Out next as the fans sing along I'd Chris Jericho. His music cuts off and then the two get this segment started.

"The Mad King" starts first, noting he doesn't know what this is supposed to be. He says he's not a sports entertainer, and asks Tony Khan to bring out some women wrestlers for a match or something. He says he's not a sports entertainer like Jericho, he's a fighter. He says if he wants to sports entertain, go down the block.
Jericho says Greenwich, CT. is right down the road and in that spirit he will do some sports entertaining. He tells the crowd not to worry, his won't suck. He goes on to tell a story about how when he came to AEW he didn't know who Eddie Kingston was. He then realized why -- it's because he looks like a jobber. Kingston chuckled and then Jericho continues.

From there, he says he saw Kingston work against "what's his name" and cut a promo and realized he's the real deal. Kingston tries cutting in but Jericho says he's not done. He talks about how he's afraid to be a winner, and he's afraid to win the big one.

Finally, a match is made between the two for the AEW Revolution pay-per-view next month. Kingston says he's down but says he wants the real Jericho that turned WCW on its head and was the first to win the AEW Championship, not the one who competed in the Mimosa match and got pushed off a cage by MJF.

Jericho vows to be that version of himself and then some and promises Kingston will lose because he's a loser.

– We shoot backstage and see Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy and Private Party in the stairwell and Hardy challenges Sting, Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara to face himself, Andrade and one of the members of Private Party in a Tornado trios match.

Face of the Revolution Qualifier: Ricky Starks vs. Dark Order No. 10

Now it's time for the latest Face of the Revolution qualifier.

Out comes Ricky Starks accompanied by Powerhouse Hobbs. The FTW Champion settles in the ring.

Next is No. 10 from The Dark Order. After some early back and forth action, we head to a mid match commercial break as the action continues.

When we return we see 10 start to take control of the offense and he eventually gets Starks in his full nelson finisher. It looked extremely close as Starks was unable to escape and was quickly fading, when he resorted to the tactic of tearing and turning the mask of The Dark Order member to secure the follow-up pinfall.

With the win, Ricky Starks is now in the Face of the Revolution ladder match at next month's PPV.

Winner: Ricky Starks

– We shoot backstage to the Cutler Cam where we see The Young Bucks and reDRagon arguing.

Adam Cole enters the scene and demands that they get along because he needs to focus on his AEW Championship opportunity at AEW Revolution.

TBS Women's Championship: Jade Cargill vs. The Bunny

Jade easily dominated The Bunny in the early portion of the match. Jade takes her down with a big kick to the face. She works over Bunny’s arm, leaving her writhing in pain. Bunny manages to get Jade out to the apron and knocks her down. With Jade on the apron, Bunny hit her with a running forearm from behind.

Jade crawls to the corner while back in the ring, and Bunny hits her with a running double kick to the back of the neck. Jade reclaims control and easily hits a kip-up to return to her feet. Jade attempts a bicycle kick, but she’s stopped by a forearm by Bunny. Bunny hits a series of stomps on Jade in the corner and chokes her with her foot. Bunny lands a running seated clothesline on Jade, but it’s not enough to win the title.

Bunny places Jade in a chin lock and wraps her legs around her body. Jade escapes and lands a big back elbow on Bunny. Bunny doesn’t stay down long and rakes Jade’s eyes. Bunny charges Jade, but ends up getting slammed to the made with a spinebuster.

Matt Hardy’s ejected from ringside after trying to interfere on Bunny’s behalf. With Jade distracted, Bunny tries to roll her up, but it’s not enough for the upset. Jade transitions Bunny into a facefirst slam into the match to retain her championship.

Winner: Jade Cargill

Jade gets on the mic and asks who’s next, and Tay Conti makes an appearance! Conti says she’s the one who is going to beat Jade’s ass and races into the ring. She gets into Jade’s face, but Bunny interjects and attacks Tay Conti and gets knocked out. With Tay busy with Bunny, she doesn’t see Jade’s pump kick coming which takes her down.

Bryan Danielson vs Daniel Garcia

Danielson & Garcia lock up right away, but Danielson takes the early control. Danielson hits Garcia with an uppercut. However, Garcia fires back with a punch. Garcia lands two chops on Danielson’s chest, but Danielson easily takes him down. Danielson fires off a series of punches and puts Garcia into a submission. Garcia tries rolling toward the ropes which forces Danielson to break the hold.

Danielson gets to his feet and smashes Garcia in the face with a kick. Danielson runs the ropes and gets leveled with a chop block by Garcia. Garcia works over Danielson’s leg and puts him in a submission. Danielson regains control for a moment, but it’s short-lived. Both men trade quick submissions until Danielson lands his signature leg strikes in the corner.

Garcia takes down Danielson and slams his leg off the ring post. Danielson’s in pain, but Garcia hits him with two more for good measure. Garcia gets Danielson into the corner for a chop, but Danielson quickly makes him trade places. Danielson lands a few chops before being taken down by his damaged leg. Garcia hits Danielson with a dragon screw to further damage his limb.

Danielson gets out of the ring and Garcia tries suplexing him back in. Danielson suplexes him out of the ring instead and follows it up with a knee off the apron. Danielson climbs to the top rope and levels Garcia with a missile dropkick. Danielson delivers punishing strikes to Garcia and locks in a half crab. The half crab turns into each man trying to use a heel hook. Both men get to their feet and Danielson hits a tiger suplex. Danielson gets the cattle mutilation locked in, but Garcia gets out and grabs him for an ankle lock.

Both men are trading blows with the young upstart hanging in there with Danielson. Garcia slaps Danielson, but he gets caught by a series of stomps to the face. Danielson wins with the triangle sleeper.

Winner: Bryan Danielson

2.0 ambushes Danielson after the match, but Jon Moxley storms the ring to make the save. He easily takes out both men. Garcia tries to smash Moxley with a chair, but Danielson stops him. Moxley drops Garcia with a Paradigm Shift to take him out of the equation.

Danielson gets on the mic and brings up Moxley’s comments about bleeding together. Bryan agrees to a match against Moxley at AEW Revolution but tells him not to be surprised if he’s the only one bleeding.

[LionDen]

Not a bad show .. thank you for LC