All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite: January 22, 2025

January 22, 2025 4:48 PM - Season 6, Episode 17

It's put-up-or-shut-up time for Private Party, because the Hurt Syndicate is coming for their tag titles, and they are bigger, meaner and more experienced. Cope will foolishly attempt to single out another member of the Death Riders, while Jamie Hayter and Julia Hart will attempt to clobber and bewitch each other, respectively. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay will meet again in a talking segment that probably already has six Meltzer stars.

The announced lineup for tonight:

* AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin)
* Cope vs. PAC
* Julia Hart vs. Jamie Hayter
* Samoa Joe vs. Nick Wayne
* Swerve Strickland vs. AR Fox
* Will Ospreay & Kenny Omega face-to-face

posted by The Pluto Gangsta (6 comments total)

"It took diverticulitis for people to even remember that you existed"

SAVAGE

It's rare that Dynamite starts with a talk segment match instead of a match, and it's even more rare that both sides have a legit point -- Kenny's last memory facing Will is seeing him wielding a screwdriver to side with Don Callis, so how dare he claim victimhood now? -- but once the entire Callis family makes it a brawl in the crowd awesome things happen and suddenly we got a tag match scheduled for Grand Slam Australia.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:27 PM on January 22

And lo, it has come to pass: After holding tag championships in OVW, and then WWE, and then ROH, Shelton Benjamin is now holding tag gold in AEW. Private Party tried their darnedest, but once Kassidy got put through a table they never recovered.

Jeff Jarrett comes out to apologize for trying (and failing) to match MJF in the insult department, and telling a story about Jerry Lawler admonishing him for using bad language back when he was in the USWA. (99% certain this is a lie.). So he's not going to try to develop mic skills in his old age, he's just gonna go straight for Moxley's title, by way of taking on Claudio Castagnoli first.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:54 PM on January 22

Swerve Strickland vs. A.R. Fox tickles that part of my heart that still marks out for any Lucha Underground reunions. Swerve's like "oh you can do flips and tricks and stuff? Yeah, I can match that!" and the he and Fox stunt off each other like crazy. And speaking of crazy stunters (and Lucha Underground alums), here comes Ricochet to wave Jordan Peele's "Us" scissors around while wearing some really great-looking eyewear. Between him and MJF and Don Callis, what is with every heel sporting cool shades?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:18 PM on January 22

Julia Hart, to my surprise, wrestle a straight-ahead match without any tricksiness or shenanigans, not even the black mist. She dodges Hayter as long as she can until finally one of the hits lands. Post-match Hayter has only good things to say about her opponent who "does her own thing." All this glazing, plus the new promo where Brody King, Buddy Matthews and Hart talk about how they're "coming out of the dark" and have "no masters anymore", means bye-bye Malakai Black for reals this time.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:08 PM on January 22

Main event match between PAC and Copeland goes OK, maybe this was the match that had to get streeeetched out because the Samoa Joe/Nick Wayne was cancelled? I was surprised that Cope got an honest win with no interference spots, but straight after the match the Death Riders, who seem to be squatting on that last-moment "gotcha" spot at the end of episodes for several weeks now, reveal that they've tied up FTR and delivered Con-chair-tos to the Rock 'n' Roll Express (what are those guys still doing here??)

I think my feelings are best expressed by these notes from someone in my watch group:

GOD WHY DO WE ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THIS
LIKE ITS ALWAYS THE SAME THING
NOTHING YOU DO TO THEM MATTERS CUZ THE REST OF THEM SHOW UP TO BEAT UP WHOMSTEVER
THEYRE THE SHITTY KIDS ON THE PLAYGROUND BEING OP

posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:14 PM on January 22

I left out the best comedy spots of the night, where Harley Cameron interrupted Toni Storm’s interview so that both women could turn their Strine accents up to 11. Which leads to Harley challenging Mercedes Moné IN SONG for a fight at Grand Slam Australia.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:16 AM on January 23