Credit: All Elite Wrestling
With fans in the stands, AEW kicked off this week’s Dynamite with Chris Jericho joining Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone at the announcement position and a Tag Team Gauntlet Match.
The Young Bucks and Natural Nightmares kicked off the festivities.
Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall worked early on over Matt Jackson, cut off the ring and isolated him from brother Nick. The Bucks fought back in the game for a while before Rhodes delivered a devastating pile driver and put Marshall back in the bolt.
The Bucks set up for More Bang for Your Buck, but Marshall escaped and scored a very close fall. Matt and Nick delivered moments later a BTE trigger on Marshall to score the pinfall win. Eliminate natural nightmares.
Best friends then went in, immediately working on Nick.
Jericho wondered what the name “Best Friends” was and then suggested that Chuck Taylor and Trent “stab each other in the back for a reward.” This while dominating the action against the Bucks.
Matt finally tagged back into the game and exploded with a burst of energy, taking the fight to the opposition. Nick came back, and Best Friends got half and half control again. The Bucks came back when Nick delivered a 450 to Trent.
The Bucks set up for the Meltzer Driver, but Hangman Page appeared out of nowhere, holding Nick’s leg and letting Trent grab the win for his team. Young Bucks eliminated.
The commentary team questioned Page’s motivations while the Bucks watched, befuddled by the events that were just unfolding.
At halftime, FTR came to the game and focused on the injured knee of Chuck Taylor. They worked him over in their corner of the ring, punishing him when fans were looking for Best Friends back in the game. With Taylor’s knee already (and, potentially, legitimized) damaged from earlier in the game, Dax Harwood forced a tapout. Eliminate best friends.
After the game, Harwood and Cash Wheeler teamed up with Tully Blanchard, one step closer to the AEW Tag Team Championships.
Result
FTR defeated Best Friends, The Young Bucks and The Natural Nighmares
Class
B
Analyze
The finish of FTR-Best Friends appeared out of nowhere, and almost certainly confirmed a real injury to Taylor. That’s a shame, because that part of this game could have been a lot of fun, especially considering how much of a stretch Taylor and Trent would have been here in 2020.
With that said, the FTR has almost no advantage because it makes them look like relentless hackers, ready and able to exploit an injury until the opposition has no choice but to submit.
Hangman Page costs The Bucks, and realizing both that they pose a very real threat to him and the tag titles of Kenny Omega, while also protecting a thriving relationship with FTR and Tully Blanchard, was a big story.
That they did not rush to give away the whole story, instead of letting it breathe, was also a wise decision.
This was a great way to start the show and a fantastic spotlight for the deepest division on the roster.
