All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite: Dynamite 8/9 and Rampage 8/11

August 9, 2023 4:26 PM - Season 4, Episode 45

No, you have not accidentally stumbled into a time portal, nor have you fallen asleep watching your wrestling VHS tapes -- the Hardys are in tag-team competition again, some Ring of Honor guys are fighting luchadors in a parking lot, and Rob Van Dam is fighting for an ECW title! In TWO THOUSAND TWENTY THREE!

The announced card for tonight:

FTW Championship Match: Jack Perry (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

RVD wasn't kidding when he says he has a history of retiring titles. He is the last official holder of both the WWE Hardcore Championship and the WWE European Championship (which he won off Jeff Hardy). So it could be that he's the hatchet man called in to put to rest the unsanctioned FTW belt that has (kayfabe(?)) fallen out of Taz's control. Either way this is not the end of heel Jack Perry... only the end of the beginning.

The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks

Their first 2-on-2 match since Double Or Nothing in May 2022. If Matt doesn't bust out a little of the Broken Matt tonight, and refer to his opponents as "Bucks of YOUTH" at least once, I will be a sad boy. The "Ex-puh-DEE-shun of Gold" isn't over in my book.

AEW Women's World Championship Match: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Anna Jay

It's too early for this match, amirite? Shida only won it last week, it'd be a real punch in the gut if Anna were to take it so soon. Unless this is the rematch we're building to in September, and so champion Anna can walk into the...

Jericho Appreciation Society mandatory meeting

Yes, yes, here's what we'll do. The J.A.S. agrees to kick Jericho out on his butt and send him running to Don Callis, and then they re-organize under the new women's champ as the "Anna Jay Appreciation Society". Book it, Tony!

MJF and Adam Cole speak about their upcoming title match at All In London

Buy your limited edition Cole and MJF micro brawlers, the mash them together and make them kiss! Unless Roderick Strong attempts to break up this happy union with his increasingly frustrated sense-making.

Parking Lot Brawl: Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) (w/ Wheeler YUTA) vs. Lucha Bros. (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) (w/ Alex Abrahantes)

It will be the third straight Wednesday in which Mox and Penta have shared a ring. After Best Friends got served up to BCC last week, there's no way that any of the four men will head into Wednesday night at 100%. Why can Mox not take that vacation he was supposed to be ready for? Is this Danielson's fault for getting injured?

posted by The Pluto Gangsta (6 comments total)

If you're wondering why PAC isn't getting any of the parking lot action, it's because the poor boy's gone and done himself an injury again.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:30 PM on August 9, 2023

Heaping spoonful of melodrama to open the show, as JAS stage an intervention of sorts. I really want a gif of the face Tay Melo made when Jericho tried to imply that her success was due to him.

What do you think Jake Hager was talking about when he said he had lots of opportunities? Like he's going back to Bellator or something?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:22 PM on August 9, 2023

Maybe MJF can add a dodgeball stipulation to his All In match with Adam Cole, because that trampoline park vignette was priceless.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:43 PM on August 9, 2023

The melodrama continues as MJF/Cole decide they will open and close All In by challenging Aussie Open for the ROH titles! And Roderick shows up with the most miserable bland white-man face only to get verbally bodied by MJF and turn to the Kingdom for emotional support. (Is MJF trying to get heat with Swifties?)

"Strong men also cry, Mr. Liebowski, strong men also cry..."
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:13 PM on August 9, 2023

Whoops, tonight's BCC/Lucha Bros. match is not in a parking lot, I guess that's an exclusively Best Friends thing. In my defense the graphic was misleading.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:17 PM on August 9, 2023

I was going to be salty about the plan for the women's title at All In: apparently it's a tournament to pick four women leading towards a four-way, and Toni Storm gets a bye (since when does AEW have rematch clauses?). I felt a little better when someone pointed out that the original All In also had a women's four-way, in fact they've become something of an AEW tradition for the title.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:15 PM on August 9, 2023