All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite: Dynamite 7/12 and Rampage 7/14

July 12, 2023 4:51 PM - Season 4, Episode 41

It is the Advent of Wayne! 18-year-old wrestling prodigy Nick Wayne, son of WWE's Buddy Wayne, makes his AEW debut tonight, the Blind Tag Tournament advances twice, and the women's division re-enacts Red vs. Blue.

The announced card for tonight:

Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne

Wayne has already worked the indies as a minor; in fact, tonight's bout is a re-match from when he defeated Swerve for the DEFY World Championship earlier this year. He also still holds the GCW Tag Championship with Jordan Oliver.

Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament – Semifinals: Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia

AKA the Four Pillars Of Twink, amirite?

We’ll Take A Closer Look At “Blood & Guts”

Hopefully one of the missing fifth members of each team will be announced. Kenny's been teasing Kota Ibushi for so long now I kinda think it's not going to happen? Another option is that new NJPW Strong Champ Eddie Kingston would swallow his hatred of Claudio Castagnoli to side with the Blackpool Combat Club.

Komander vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho's been putting over an assortment of talent, while the storyline has him consider Don Callis' offer to join his new "family".

Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament – Semifinals: Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue

Ruby pulled off an upset win over Britt Baker last week, and Skye is actually... one of AEW's only straight-up babyfaces? Can that be right? Which ever side wins tonight will certainly affect the booking for Athena vs Willow on Friday.

Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament – Semifinals: MJF & Adam Cole vs. Brian Cage & Big Bill

MJF's fanboying over Adam Cole has reached the level where he's dropping in on Cole's Twitch stream and (like a dumb mark) I am so here for it.

posted by The Pluto Gangsta (12 comments total)

TK out there dedicating this show to Shanelle.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:03 PM on July 12, 2023

On the one hand, Komander did the same things he always does, but on the other hand, those things are awesome. On the weird third hand, Don Callis comes out to play some beautiful circa-1995 footage to continue wooing Jericho over to his side.

The running gag of Jack Perry, Hook, and escaping to-and/or-from a car continues to make me laugh. I wonder what other permutations we can come up with? And would any version be as funny as Cole and MJF becoming best buds "Stepbrothers" style bonding over Fight Forever?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:35 PM on July 12, 2023

Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia wrestled the match with a weird tense energy of two guys who have to get along for the sake of the project, and then Prince Nana shows himself to be a "Certified Genius" by distracting the ref long enough for an awesome drive-by knee from Swerve, getting that heel work in early.

For a masterclass in facial expressions, watch Reneé's face when Adam Cole tries to tell Roderick Strong that MJF is "not that bad, really!"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:05 PM on July 12, 2023

No double clothesline tonight from MJF/Cole yet, but Max did manage to bodyslam Bill to the delight of the crowd, and setup Cole to deliver the big knee. It's so weird seeing MJF trying to absorb that babyface crowd energy, like how confused the Z Fighters were when Vegeta achieved his Super Saiyan powers.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:15 PM on July 12, 2023

After wrestling a fairly brutal match that wouldn't have been out of place at a joshi show, Ruby gets the win over Skye Blue, which doesn't bode well for Athena in two days.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:33 PM on July 12, 2023

If you're wondering how it's possible for Nick Wayne to be so experienced and have so many matches under his belt even though he just turned 18, here's Chuckie T to explain it.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:41 PM on July 12, 2023

It's PAC! The BCC has found another British person! PACpool Combat Club! And talk about long term booking, PAC still wants to talk about when Kenny broke his nose.

But who gives a shit, it's gonna be Ibushi! He's back! THE GOLDEN ELITE! I'm gonna lose my damn mind for Blood & Guts, I swear to God.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:01 PM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering what Jericho meant when he said Jake Hager saved his life in Abu Dhabi, it's this kinda dumb story here.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:03 PM on July 12, 2023

Yes, this about covers the reaction of me and everyone else in the chat I watched with tonight.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:20 PM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

THE LOVERS
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:24 PM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ha ha, on Rampage it seems like Dustin thought getting thrown by Keith Lee looked like so much fun he volunteered to get hurled at the JAS.

Meanwhile, I can totally get behind Harley Cameron quietly becoming the secret leader of QTV, it supports the metaplot of QT Marshall being utterly useless.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:19 PM on July 14, 2023

Kind of a weird strategy reversal this Rampage — Hook is tired of chasing Jack Perry around so he issues his challenge from some tourist spot, meanwhile Trent foolishly decided to trade stiff strikes with Lance Archer, forgetting that this guy was trained by Minoru Suzuki.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:09 PM on July 14, 2023