For a guy who would prefer to work as little as possible, Orange Cassidy sure does defend his AEW International Championship a lot. And that makes for a totally relevant segue, because he’s going to be doing it again tonight on AEW Dynamite.
He’s already taken on quite the diverse group of challengers, but he’s getting a completely different test in Albany from high-flying AR Fox. The story AEW is telling with him is a good one: When will he simply wear out, and will he feel pressure to take more shortcuts to stave off the inevitable?
We’ll also see the latest comedy stylings from Adam Cole and MJF, and there are some other fun matches on the card too, so let’s jump right into it.
AEW Dynamite results from Albany:
Darby Allin narrates a video that tells us more about AR Fox, who not only helped him when he was just getting started in wrestling, he actually let Darby live with him for free. Respect.
Orange Cassidy def. AR Fox by pinfall to retain the AEW International Championship
Even with his hands in his pockets, Cassidy is able to go move for move with Fox right off the bat, but he ducks out to the floor to slow the pace as soon as he’s able.
That only stops Fox momentarily, and the challenger has several good chances to win it. He also hits a cool somersault senton on the apron before returning to the ring, where Cassidy hits none of his big finishers but still is able to outwrestle Fox on the mat to get the pin.
After the bell, Cassidy offers a handshake, then his sunglasses to Fox. But AR destroys the sunglasses and then smashes Orange with a right hand. Allin, who advocated for Fox to get this shot, runs down the ramp for an angry confrontation.
To add injury to insult for Cassidy, Jon Moxley hits the ring and lays out the champ with a Death Rider. Ouch.
Renee Paquette says Don Callis has requested time to speak with Chris Jericho, and he proposes a tag team match with Konosuke Takeshita as a test run for joining the Family. Oh, and it’ll be against Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara. Jericho ponders it for a second but then says he’ll do it.
Callis also commemorated some artwork that shows the two of them together in the ’90s, and … yeah.
Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta have a PSA: Don’t mess with the Blackpool Combat Club. That goes for Pac in particular, and Mox says the tag team they are facing tonight will pay for it too.
Tony Schiavone heads to the ring to talk to the new FTW Champion, Jack Perry, who scoffs at how Hook went home after one loss. But when he said he was going to win a championship, Perry clarifies that it wasn’t going to be one “created in a second-class company.”
Doubling and tripling down, Perry says he’d run circles around Taz and all of his dirtbag friends back in the day. Jerry Lynn comes out to take exception to all of this and defend the honor of ECW. When Lynn tells Perry he’ll get his ass kicked if he keeps running his mouth, Jack challenges him to a match next week.
Britt Baker tells Paquette she was surprised when Taya Valkyrie called her out on Collision, but she’s also excited about the opportunity to remind everybody that TBS = The Britt Show. Not sure that’s what it formally stands for, but we’ll roll with it.
Pac vs. Gravity
The announcers remind us that one of Pac’s nicknames used to be “The Man That Gravity Forgot,” and now he’s wrestling someone named Gravity, and you see where this is headed.
This is a pretty fun Dynamite debut for Gravity, but you know he’s not winning, and Pac is able to get him to submit. He hangs onto the hold after the bell, because he’s a bastard and all.
MJF and Adam Cole look a lot more serious tonight, with the World Champion cutting a very serious promo on FTR. Cole says to his partner that it’s become about friendship, which means the world to him. Adam tells Max that he’s becoming one of his best friends, but MJF says he’s going to give Cole a rematch since it means so much to him. Roderick Strong rushes in and starts a ruckus, so Cole tells MJF he’ll handle it, and he does it by telling Roddy he’s being too possessive and weird.
FTR is asked about the team they’ll have to face Saturday, and Cash Wheeler says he like and respects Cole but he hates MJF. Dax Harwood, who was the target of most of Max’s barbs, and says he will beat the s–t out of MJF for talking about his family. Sorry, Adam.
Swerve Strickland def. Darby Allin by pinfall
Allin has already had a bit of a night, what with the AR Fox business, so he might have some extra angst to channel here. A Code Red on the floor seems like it would hurt eve without that, but Strickland kicks out so the match can continue.
The steel steps come into play as well, and Swerve uses them as a launchpad for a jumping head kick that is truly impressive. He gains control after a commercial break and looks for a Swerve Stomp, which hits but isn’t enough to keep the resilient Allen down.
Up top they go, with Allin able to flip over Strickland to pull off a stunner, and Swerve slumps out to the apron. That ends up being bad news for Darby, who take a Death Valley Driver off the top onto the apron.
AR Fox comes down and slams Allin into the ringpost, leaving him easy pickings for the JBL Driver that gives Swerve the win.
Nick Wayne tries to come down and confront Fox, but he ends up getting laid out as well, and Fox takes off his hoodie to reveal a Mogul Embassy shirt.
Paquette is outside the locker room where Jericho has called a meeting of the Jericho Appreciation Society. Angelo Parker turns pretty serious while saying that the group means the world to all of them but he’s not sure it does to Chris. Anna Jay calls Jericho selfish and says they can’t give him 100%. Matt Menard tells him to “figure it out … fast.”
A replay is shown of Daddy Ass taking off his boots and leaving them in the ring on Collision.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. def. Taya Valkyrie by submission
Taya just smiles as she smashes home strikes on Britt, and there’s no doubt that it doesn’t look fun to be hit by her. So it looks like the good doctor is going to need to make a heroic comeback of some kind, but happily she’s pretty good at that.
Indeed, once she starts building momentum and getting her glove out, she appears to be headed that way. A Valkyrie spear derails her plans for a second, but Britt is able to counter the Road to Valhalla into the Lockjaw, and Taya taps out fairly quickly.
A series of promos for matches on this week’s episode of AEW Collision airs, with Jeff Hardy doing his best impression of The Rock. Yes, really.
Lucha Bros. def. Best Friends and Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley by pinfall
This one turns wild right off the bat, with the teams brawling all the way up toward the stage, where Chuck Taylor somersaults onto multiple targets from the ramp.
The match does eventually settle enough to get in the ring, but the ref is still pretty liberal about how many people are in on the action at once, and we naturally end up with all six facing off.
With the BCC members sent to the floor, the Best Friends hit tandem piledrivers on the Lucha Bros. for a two count. Rey Fenix and Penta end up applying simultaneous submissions but can’t get them to stick. Penta hits the Made in Japan, forcing the BCC to break up the pin.
Mox and Claudio are back and wrecking shop now. But Cassidy comes down the ramp, hitting Wheeler Yuta with an Orange Punch and scrapping with Moxley. Trent nails Claudio but learns he’s not the legal man and can’t make the pin. Penta takes advantage with a Fear Factor on Trent, which is enough to get them a dub.
The violence doesn’t end after the bell, with everyone involved in the match, plus Yuta and Cassidy, all brawling. Orange hits Claudio with an Orange Punch as the show fades out.