Due to scheduling conflicts with the Major League Baseball Playoffs, AEW’s Flagship show Dynamite was moved to Tuesday. This change pitted Dynamite Head to Head with WWE’s NXT. Both shows put together incredible lineups for the first Head to Head match up in over 2 years.
AEW advertised Jon Moxley’s (fka WWE’s Dean Ambrose) return from a concussion as well as “The Rated R Superstar’ Adam Copeland (fka WWE’s Edge) debut match for AEW. In addition, Saraya (fka WWE’s Paige) defended her AEW Women’s World Championship against Hikaru Shida. And in what may have been the most anticipated matchup of the night, Bryan Danielson (fka WWE’s Daniel Bryan) faced Swerve Strickland (fka NXT’s Isaiah “Swerve” Scott). In fact, “SwitchBlade” Jay White vs. “Hangman” Adam Page was the only advertised match that didn’t feature an “fka.”
NXT’s Star-Studded Spectacular
NXT advertised appearances by John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Paul Heyman, and Asuka. T An ominous “Gong” sounded at the end of the NXT commercials. Cody Rhodes announced the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament. Cody Rhodes also hinted that he would be a presence throughout the night since NXT Head Shawn Michaels designated him as General Manager for the Night. Rhodes didn’t waste time putting his authority to good use. He made a match between Newly Crowned NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov and NXT North American Champion “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio. Cody even sweetened the pot by making “The Megastar” LA Knight (who may be the most popular name in WWE right now) special guest referee for this contest.
Asuka faced Roxanne Perez, a trainee of Booker T and former NXT Women’s Champion. Roxanne looked to be the first person ever to defeat Asuka on NXT. Astute fans will remember that Asuka was undefeated for over 650 days in NXT. Roxanne looked amazing in defeat as she took the fight to Asuka but ultimately came up short. A short confrontation between John Cena and the up-and-coming Bron Breakker occurred midway through the show where a few strikes were exchanged. A Pub Rules match between Gallus and Tyler Bate, Butch (Pete Dunne), and Ridge Holland was a fun romp. Lola Vice picked up a huge win in the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
The main event saw NXT’s top names Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker faced off with John Cena and Paul Heyman in their respective corners. Carmelo picked up the win and afterwards Bron took him down with a spear and began to cut a promo until the (Amerrican BadASS) Undertaker arrived. Undertaker cut a promo hyping Bron before chokeslamming him, then helped Carmelo Hayes up, giving a stamp of approval to both men.
AEW “Title Tuesday”
AEW Dynamite opened the Show with TNT Champion Christian Cage (fka WWE’s Christian) in the production truck. Christian addressed the audience and stated that we should be grateful that he made the first 30 minutes of the show commercial-free. Bryan Danielson and Swerve Strickland started the night with a match that would fit nicely as the main event of any of next year’s Pay-Per-Views. The match showcased both competitors until Hangman intervened, signaling that Swerve and Hangman still had mileage left in their feud. But the victory went to Danielson.
Chris Jericho had a short match with Powerhouse Hobbs that in one night reestablished Hobbs as a dominant competitor. Chris Jericho has given so much credibility to his opponents over the last year, and not enough people speak about that. The fact that he puts over members of the Don Callis family, shows how much confidence he has for the future of the wrestling business and AEW as a whole.
The aforementioned AEW International Championship Match, which also was to double as Jon Moxley’s return match was changed as Moxley was not cleared to wrestle. Orange Cassidy replaced Moxley and went on to win the Championship. Wardlow won with a wordless, unimpressive splash that the announcers made seem like the second coming. The Toni Storm we needed but don’t deserve pantomimed a segment called Lovers Lament. I don’t know what I watched, but I loved it.
THE Quarter Story
Then the most talked about segment for the right and wrong reasons. After an unimpressive Hangman Page match, which ended with a predictable Mogul Embassy interference. MJF came out to request that Jay White return his stolen property, The AEW World Championship. After a back and forth, Juice Robinson basically threatened to hit MJF with a roll of quarters. Ostensibly this wouldn’t have been a big deal as people have used quarters as a weapon. However, when combining this with MJF’s recounting of anti-semitic attacks and bullying of people throwing quarters at him, many viewers questioned the thinking and timing of this. (Reminder: As this is going on, Israel is engaged in a battle against HAMAS-led Palestinian forces.) We do get the main event of AEW Full Gear, which is MJF vs. Jay White.
Hikaru Shida defeated Saraya in a huge surprise win, in part because AEW built towards a Shida vs. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. feud. Also, wasn’t Toni Storm a much better choice to dethrone Saraya? I guess favoritism over ratings still exists. Finally, in the Main Event, a pre-bell cheapshot forced Adam Copeland to play through the pain and start the match. Luchasaurus works the big man role well here dealing out punishment like playing cards, while Nick Wayne and Christian kept the pressure on making Copeland actually look like the underdog. The finish of the match saw Copeland strike Luchasaurus with the TNT Title and toss it to Christian. Luchasaurus and Christian were yelling at each other which gave Copeland time and space to line up a spear for the pin and win.
In the aftermath, the Blackpool Combat Club and the Mogul Embassy came out brawling with Christian’s Family. Hangman got his hands on Swerve, and Copeland hit Nick Wayne with a spear. The show ended with Christian trapped and tapping to Danielson’s LeBell Lock.
That wraps the biggest Tuesday Night in Wrestling for 2023!!!!!
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